League: No way NRL can meet clubs' demands

The Warriors match against the Wests Tigers. Photo / Getty Images

The NRL claims it doesn't have the funds to meet a demand from clubs for the annual grant to be raised to A$6 million in 2012.

As the battle for a larger slice of rugby league's money pie intensified yesterday, NRL clubs backed away from claims they could form a breakaway competition if their requests weren't met.

But they did warn the future of some clubs would be at risk if the grant - which stands at $3.85 million - did not rise substantially, and they were willing to stand together in the fight.

Just two of the 16 clubs at present make a profit.

"What the game needs to do is assess what the funding priorities are and at the moment the clubs are at the very bottom end of the funding priority," Wests Tigers chairman Dave Trodden said.

"Everyone gets their money before the clubs get their money.

"You can't have a business that's got 16 departments, 14 of which are making $30 million losses annually.

"All the clubs did was make the very obvious point that if we're going to be viable long-term, something has to change."

The NRL said yesterday afternoon that there was no way it could match the clubs' demands.

While there is plenty of debate over whether the new independent commission will be up and running by its proposed November 1 start date, the NRL said handing out funds ahead of the commission's implementation was not feasible.

"It would be completely unrealistic to saddle the commission with club grants of $6 million that simply can't be funded at this stage," it said.

"Ultimately the club agreements underpin stability in the game and the funding for the clubs themselves."

At the moment the clubs are refusing to sign those agreements.

They denied their demand was some sort of threat, but rather a realistic summation of the situation they faced.

The licence agreements they were asked to sign set out funding for the next six years.

The bid would represent an injection of more than $34 million for the clubs, but the NRL claims it has only $18 million in reserves.

Having played through the Superleague war, Kangaroos skipper Darren Lockyer was horrified at suggestions NRL clubs might look to form a breakaway competition

"We did that 15 years ago and it was a debacle," Lockyer said in the buildup to this Sunday's test against the Kiwis.

"I don't think we'll go down that path.

"The Independent Commission has been a big talking point for the past 12 months or probably longer and I am pretty confident it will form in the near future.

"And I am pretty confident they will run the game very efficiently."

Lockyer also said there was an element of the clubs jumping the gun by demanding more money before a new TV rights deal had been completed.

- AAP