NRL and Rugby League Players’ Association in fresh dispute over minimum wage requirements with players to take out private health insurance

A row over what the lowest-paid NRL players should be paid if they fund their own health insurance threatens to drag collective bargaining into a sixth month after the last pay deal expired.

Despite the NRL’s pre-Christmas announcement of an agreement in principle on the salary cap for the next five years, headquarters and the players’ union are still at odds over the final figure for minimum-wage players.

Tension has arisen over whether the base price for a top 30 player should be set higher than $120,000, according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the confidential nature of the talks.

The NRL announced $120,000 would be the lowest wage a club could pay a player in its top division squad, a significant increase from last cycle. Previously, a club could sign up to four players in its top 30 for $80,000 a year.

However, the Rugby League Players’ Association has moved to set the minimum wage at $130,000 after submitting a proposal to the NRL that individual players should take out their own health insurance.

The players’ union fears that other top 30 players, for example those earning $120,000, will be down in real terms as they have to take out health insurance, which was previously the responsibility of clubs.

The cap for the top 30 players is set to rise to $11.45 million this year, a 22 percent increase from last year. But how the lowest-paid athletes are treated still creates anxiety at the negotiating table.

In addition to the minimum wage imbroglio, the NRL and RLPA are looking to sign more details on intellectual property rights and outperformance clauses if the game performs better than forecast financially.