Rugby league: Angry Warriors phone call led to NRL boss Todd Greenberg quitting - report

An ugly phone call involving league bosses and the Warriors may have led to the resignation of NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, according to a report.

Greenberg stood down as NRL boss yesterday after he and the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) "mutually agreed" to part ways.

The news came after weeks of speculation and frustration aimed at Greenberg, including from Warriors CEO Cameron George about the radio silence around the New Zealand side's involvement in the resumption of the NRL season.

However, according to league journalist Paul Kent, Greenberg's resignation was somewhat forced due to a lack of faith from ARLC chairman Peter V'landys, prompting the former NRL boss to "jump before he was pushed".

Kent said Greenberg's downfall was due to his failure to instil confidence that the sport would get through the coronavirus pandemic.

"The commission had lost all confidence in Todd to do the job," Kent told Fox League Live.

"He jumped before he was pushed. He was on the way out. Todd was days away I believe from being sacked at the start of the season.

"Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and he got a stay of execution.

"What pressed the urgent button in the last week was Peter V'landys was sick of being blindsided by failures at NRL headquarters."

Todd Greenberg quit as NRL CEO yesterday. Photo / Getty

The final straw was Greenberg's lack of action around the Warriors and their simple requests for clarification around the details of their proposed move to be based in Australia to play in the resumed season.

"The Warriors had continually asked the NRL for details around them moving to Australia," Kent said.

"When they would get there. How they would get there and there was talk their families were going to come.

"The NRL failed to respond to Warriors CEO Cameron George and the concerns that the club had.

"The Warriors are vital to forming a 16 team competition and here they are asking legitimate questions and not even getting a response."

The issue ended up culminating in an angry phone call where V'landys reportedly hit out at Greenberg.

"There was a phone hook up with Peter V'landys, Todd Greenberg and Cameron George where all this came to light to Peter V'landys," Kent said.

"In the phone hook up V'landys lambasted Greenberg and said Todd why haven't you done this? Why haven't you sorted it out.

"There were a lot of things like that where clubs who had long ago lost faith. You only have to read numerous quotes from club CEOs in the past few weeks where they haven't been getting sufficient answers or any answers in some cases.

"They have been going over Greenberg's head straight to V'landys who has been fixing the problem for them.

"I think V'landys was hoping to get through this pandemic without having to do this, but essentially no real work was being done in there.

"He was forced to pull the trigger and it has been portrayed as Todd resigning, but let's be honest he jumped before he was pushed."

The Warriors will need to arrive in Australia at least two weeks before May 28 in order to serve a 14-day quarantine before the restart of the NRL season.

The Warriors have an application before the Australian Government and border security seeking access into the country.