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The NRL will allow clubs to sign replacement players for stars injured in representative games as soon as this year's State of Origin series in the latest salary cap shake-up.
In a move that would have allowed the Raiders to draft in cover for England star Josh Hodgson, who was hurt in last year's World Cup, clubs will now be compensated for long-term injuries suffered by their marquee men while on Test, Origin or All-Stars duty.
Compensation: Clubs could get salary cap relief for players injured during representative matches.Credit:AAP
League Central will offer salary cap exemption on a dollar-for-dollar basis to players who will be sidelined for 12 weeks or more up to a value of $350,000 from next month when the Origin series begins in Melbourne.
Amidst a wave of lobbying from some clubs fearful of losing their biggest assets while they earn higher honours with little return, the NRL has tried to break down some of that resistance with its latest proposal.
The plan was presented to club bosses at Tuesday's chief executives conference in Sydney and will need to be signed off at the next Australian Rugby League Commission meeting on June 7.
It will be retrospectively applied for any long-term injuries suffered in Origin I the night before.
It seems a mere formality that the game's independent commissioners will tick off the move, which could have in theory provided the Cowboys with a replacement for Johnathan Thurston on their unlikely march to the NRL grand final last year.
The NRL will impose strict conditions on what injuries qualify for salary cap relief and will require medical evidence that a player didn't carry a pre-existing condition into a representative game before suffering a long-term injury.
But the Raiders could have had last summer to find a $350,000 hooking alternative to Hodgson, who ruptured his ACL playing for England in the World Cup, under the new scheme.