Has anyone else noticed David Gallop get tougher recently? I don’t mean in the Incredible Hulk sense, where he turns green and walks into NRL headquarters with a ripped shirt, but more verbally landing a right-hook on the chin of any opponent of change. What we used to get from Gallop were statements that could make watching the twilight movies interesting.
They were phrases from the good guide to management book and largely created little to no controversy.
Now he comes out fighting. He exposes the ludicrous, highlights the absurd, and uncovers the laughable claims of his rivals.
His handling of the latest mini drama to hit the headlines – agents and players being required to sign statutory declarations – is perfect evidence of this.
In the wake of the Melbourne Storm salary cap rorts, Gallop proposed players and agents sign statutory declarations along with their contract. He wants them to certify that everything is above board, that there’s no second contract locked in a secret lair with lots of extra zeros on it and that the two parties are playing by the rules.
The Rugby League Players Association came out swinging as soon as this tough new measure was announced, leaving Gallop less than impressed. He gave the RLPA 5 days to show why the rule shouldn’t be implemented, but in the mean time ripped them to shreds at a press conference.
“We’ll give the players’ association an opportunity to tell us why we shouldn’t have a system where the parties to the playing contract are prepared to say ‘this is what the player is really getting paid,” Gallop said.
“It is the fair dinkum contract amount – not some other amount that’s not in the playing contract, which is the situation we dealt with in Melbourne. It’s deeply concerning that they would object to that.
“The player agents have hijacked the situation and they’ve hijacked the players’ association effectively.
“We haven’t really heard boo from the player agents since the whole Melbourne Storm thing happened. We know that a number of them are still under investigation.
“If you’re not prepared to say ‘yes, this is the true picture’, then you’ve obviously got something to hide.”
Now, that’s a leader! It was almost as if the Melbourne Storm salary cap saga was the final straw – the last in a long line of bad headlines he could take.
On the surface it made no sense for the RLPA to reject this. Who doesn’t like transparency?
I rang RLPA chief executive David Garnsey to find out what the main objection was.
He said the RLPA’s biggest problem was that they simply weren’t consulted before the NRL decided to open players and agents up to far greater punishment than they currently face.
He wouldn’t and in fact couldn’t say if the RLPA would give their blessing to it, mainly because they hadn’t, according to Garnsey, had the chance to read it yet.
So it wasn’t an objection, as such. It was more the RLPA caught off guard.
Regardless, I believe NRL fans can now put their faith in Gallop to make the tough decisions. It’s slow progress, yes, but progress all the same.
The man still has his many critics, who argue that not just Gallop, but the NRL as a whole is too reactionary and not pro-active enough.
Still, this is a step in the right direction.
You can follow Luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia
Danni
Guest
This season has been a disaster for us Mexicans. just forget it happened Jeff and see what happens in the future.We all know that no one else will get audited, so it's not much use in asking.
Jeff
Guest
You can look at more clubs than Broncs. I think at least four clubs are carrying a similar (if not better) playlist than Storm did last year. but they must be legal coz Meesta Gallop has said so. How about, when the grand final is completed, all players get drug tested (before the game) and the clubs who make it to the semis gets thoroughly audited during the off season. let's also see who has similar 'Bronco non sponsor backing' for their list. Once we can get this info, only then can the decision on the salary caps fair level playing field be decided.
Mcfish
Guest
The only way to make player payments transparent is to publish them Luke. When Gallop has the gonads to enforce that, especially with the Broncos then I will believe you. The RLPA is still an easy mark for him to defect attention with instead of tackling the real problem, cheating execs in the clubs.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The way to get bums on seats is twofold,set in stone the season in advance so people can organise their lives accordingly,and promote by using better facilities at bigger stadium or improve the current club stadiums.People demand comfort and program schedule,not a five week effort that currently prevails.
chris
Guest
I think the biggest problem the NRL has is how to you et bums on seats for club games,Sydney SOO and internationals.
mikey
Guest
You've not read what i'm saying. What i'm saying is the relationship between the player & the NRL - which is what we're talking about here - is a business relationship & should be treated as such. To drag it into criminal courts - when it not related to criminal law - is unnecessary. Example I'll sign a stat dec wit the ATO cos' i have to but not with the company down the road that supplies me with widgets - that business & has no statutory basis except in civil courts.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
i suppose you can argue ATM that Gallop has News ties,but an I.C.will loosen any remaining ties that bind.There will be no News in the partnership as there will be no partnership.Fails to sink in, to some. Yeah i can see him as a News puppet when he staged press interviews after some offfield incident,which had been highlighted in bold black print in a News Ltd paper.The same print organisation ,that tore through forests of newsprint to expose very thing a player did by relieving himself in a lane to the extreme.If that is an example of a News puppet.I will give mine to the cat. Gallop I agree has been showing a lot more mettle of late since the Storm fiasco,his views on competetitors with one line"we arent going away"as a reminder.Gallop has a degree of humility ,his main competitor's leadership shows little evidence of that.except perhaps ;arrogance. And it was a couple of years ago Gallop was named sport's administartor of the year.He is hardly a Churchillian orator by any stretch but does get off his backside and be deeply involved in indigineous affairs,women's issues(when he was given a standing ovation by the women present at a speech he gave) not that long ago. If it is good enough for other codes to poach rl players,then in a free enterprise system that we operate under,the reverse should equally apply (as Elias has promoted).
anopinion
Guest
Mitch, Almost everything the NRL implements is a copy of the NFL in America. Eg Grand Final Rings. Independent commission.
oikee
Guest
I see that when big Tony gets elected, he is giving Manly 10 million to update brookie,. Just a shame it has to be done federally rather than state government, time to get rid of the other losers next. Queensland are ready to kick this government into the next century. Nothing has been done for the last 3 years. Gallop will now be in a even better position to get things moving. Just remember, Sydney was promised the rugby league headquarters last election, yeah that worked well. What happened, we got another AFL feild.
Mushi
Guest
Mikey that’s not even in the same post code of being even slightly right. The contract doesn’t represent commitments to pay money from other parties because the only parties it can bind are those that sign it. So if the contract is signed by the player and the club and not a third party sponsor it can exclude the commercial arrangement between the sponsor and the third party and nothing is untoward. This is why the Melbourne storm players are still owed the moneys for the arrangements they entered into.
Mushi
Guest
Yep that's never been tried before the AFL. trail blazers in corporate governance
Jeff
Guest
Yeah, my guess is that News Ltd have hired someone new to write his speeches for tham oops I meant for him!!??..
Jonathan Howcroft
Roar Rookie
Gallop is a News Ltd puppet whose strings almost visibly move every time he sits awkwardly at a press conference. Any comparison with AFL is delusional. The NRL should be more concerned with shoring the defences against Soccer overtaking it rather than challenging upwards. I couldn't help but laugh watching Benny Elias on One HD last night talking about poaching Rugby Union's best players. What is the incentive? And as for people comparing Gallop to Demetriou - do me a favour. Only this week Demetriou (Chair of the Federal Government's Multicultural Advisory Council) delivered a Human Rights Law Centre Annual Lecture. I assume at the same time Gallop was asking his News paymasters what his next public statement on the state of appalling video-refereeing should be...
Redb
Roar Guru
Independent Commission.... nuff said. :-)
M1tch
Roar Guru
Teams on the gold coast and west sydney, monday night football, free agency, signing league players..hmm it seems the afl is following these days ;)
Mikey
Guest
Absolutely not reason they should sign a Stat dec - making it a criminal matter if things aren't as they say. A contract - stating this is only deal - is enough & if they're lying it's a civil matter. The criminal justice system doesn't need this type of thing clogging it up just cos' the NRL can't run its game properly. It time Gallop went & a new broom came in with the new commission. too much old baggage ain't good for the game.
Jeff
Guest
Now I wanna see him 'walk the walk'. or WALK AWAY. I seem to remember in April after Waldren stated that ALL clubs were having to cheat,, he replied that all clubs would be put through stringent audits because of what was found at STORM,, has anybody seen this action taken.????. Roll on IC (without Gallop)
Brett McKay
Guest
Luke, it's interesting that the RLPA seems to have a fairly limited playbook these days. If something is thrown at the players from slightly left of centre, they threaten to strike. Full club salary cap audits, failure to raise salary cap, now the requirement to sign stat decs that they're playing by the rules (which is commonplace in the AFL, by the way), all have been responded in the same manner: STRIKE!! Gallop's on the high ground on this issue, and you're right, he seems to be more willing to talk tough now. Maybe the best way to battle Andrew Demetriou is to be Andrew Demetriou?? I put it down to the new glasses...
Brissie Kid
Guest
Pity its taken a decade of salary cap scandals, off field atrocities, cancelled Dally M Award night, underpaid tv deal, radio rights that prevent good coverage, not offering star players good enough deals to keep them in the NRL, a NYC that leaves no NRL career path, ill considered rule changes and misguided approach to refereeing before the NRL management has found a new approach. In any event, failing to give the RLPA their entitled prior notice doesn't seem to be a particularly prudent move anyway.
Redb
Roar Guru
Footsteps, NRL is always following.