League: Rebellion talk way off mark, Warriors boss

New Zealand Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle at the NRL team's base in Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker

NRL clubs may have grievances over how league is being run but Warriors managing director Jim Doyle says talk of a second Super League-type rebellion is way off the mark.

It's been 20 years since the Australian Rugby League was divided by the Super League war and reports out of Sydney last week suggest clubs are again unhappy with the game's governing body and dissatisfied with the lack of funding they receive.

The NRL generates close to $350 million a year, with the 16 clubs receiving about $125 million, but questions are being asked about what is done with the remaining cash and why clubs don't get more to invest in junior development.

The Warriors are one of 12 clubs who come off licence from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season. Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra, Newcastle and Gold Coast have each extended but staggered their NRL contracts.

Doyle denied there was a chance the 12 clubs could break away from the NRL and said the Warriors enjoyed a positive meeting with NRL bosses in Auckland last Friday.

Like all clubs, the Warriors hope the next broadcasting rights deal will result in an increase in club funding which in turn would allow them to further grow the game locally.

"We met with the NRL, Dave Smith, Todd Greenberg and Shane Richardson, and we progressed really positively with them," said Doyle. "They are very keen to increase the broadcasting rights deal and let that money flow through to help make the clubs more financially stable.

"I can't see at this point in time any substance to talk of a second Super League happening, so we're very positively working with the NRL.

"The current broadcasting deal ends at the end of the 2017 season. The NRL are negotiating at the moment and it depends, the outcome could be that there's a new deal that starts from 2018 or they may do something early. They may do a new deal that starts from next year."

While growing the national game and enhancing junior development are the responsibilities of the New Zealand Rugby League, a larger cash injection from the NRL would help the Warriors achieve the same goals.

"The more money that we could get the more we would try and do across the whole game, not just for our professional team," said Doyle.

The perception that the NRL wants to stagger clubs' licences to reduce their collective bargaining power and prevent a recurrence of the current situation, with 12 clubs coming off-contract together, was illogical.

"I don't see any issue with them trying to individually work with clubs to try to get it all staggered.

"Simple logic would be, if a club got into financial difficulty and had to borrow $5 million and they said [to the NRL] 'we'll pay you back over 10 years', then the NRL are not going to allow them to have a licence that expires in four years. Basically they would be aligning any debt."

Extending the Warriors' licence with the NRL would be dealt with in time but Doyle said it was not discussed at Friday's meeting.

"The NRL have been going around all 16 clubs and engaging with them. We had a three-hour meeting with the board and then an hour with the players and an hour with the senior staff ... We constantly talk."