NRL 2023: CBA negotiations, RLPA, player strike, Peter V’landys

Those teams are: East Palo Alto Razorbacks, Sacramento Immortals, North Bay Warriors, Las Vegas Islanders, San Francisco Savage, Provo Steelers, Salt Lake City Spartans and Utah Saints.

The organisation’s boss Tom Stevenson told News Corp of his plans to contact V’landys and assured that all 160 players would be willing to fly over immediately.

“I have spoken with our players today and we have 160 ready to go to Australia if the NRL players go on strike,” he said.

“Today, I reached out to the coaches to get confirmation before calling Peter V’landys and all our coaches said their players would drop everything and be on the next flight over to Australia.”

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While the American season is set to kick off on January 29, Stevenson revealed that he’s prepared to press pause in aid of the NRL.

“If the strike action is to go ahead, we would instantly pause our season and send over all 160 players to help save the NRL competition. The show will go on with or without the current players,” he said.

“If the NRL players don’t think there is somebody waiting in the wings to do their job for a quarter of the money then they are kidding themselves. Our players are ready.

“I am under no illusion our guys are not training in professional programs at the moment, but this move to Australia would keep the competition going for the fans and would keep the game’s broadcast commitments, which is employment for a lot of people.

“We could be over to Australia with all 160 players who are on the books at Championship Rugby League. We have a database of USA based men’s players with more than 400 names on it.

“American players are natural athletes with a strong grasp of the game and we play an entertaining style of rugby league. Who knows, it might even open the door for some of our players to be lured to the NRL.

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“Most of the guys have played college football or have a Rugby 7s background in college and have taken to rugby league with a lot of passion.

“As an NRL fan, all this is kind of confusing.
“Players in Australia play for clubs, not billionaire owners and they represent the community and fans are attached to the teams, not the players.”

Negotiations for the new collective bargaining agreement between the NRL and RLPA have been going on for 14 months now — and are three months behind schedule after passing the original deadline of October last year.