My plan to let NRL legends finish their careers at home

This is an innovation I’d like to see the NRL take on board. It’s going to enhance fans’ engagement with their clubs, keep experience in the NRL for longer, develop more talent and ultimately lead to making a quality game better.

The concept first came to mind when Mitchell Aubusson retired, then developed when Cameron Smith was contemplating his end, soared with the story around Adam Reynolds and peaked with the Tariq Sims saga at the Dragons.

To qualify for the retirement contract, a player must either have been at one club for all their career or a minimum of ten years club service. Players with say 250 games service can also be considered. The player must also be expecting and ready to end their career within a three-to-five-year time frame.

The contract value reduces over the years (for obvious reasons as will become clear). However, part of the initial contract value is held in trust until the contract is fulfilled to avoid the situation of a player getting the main pay then opting out of his final year or two.

The reason the initial structure (reducing value) still exists is so contract pay is in line with the services delivered and in the event the player is injured or medically retired before the completion of the contract, they are paid out with the higher value.

An example of a retirement contract would be over three or four or five years and given the likelihood that the player involved would be of high quality, the value range could be:
Year 1: $800,000 to $1 million, $300,000 in trust
Year 2: $500,000 to $700,000, $200,000 in trust
Year 3: $300,000 to $500,000
Year 4-5: $200,000 to $300,000

Going back to the purposes of such an innovation, it will deliver benefits to the NRL fan-base and community as well as the game in general.

The core ideal is for a long-standing and loyal club member to be able to see out their days with the club they have been linked with for their playing career, enhancing fan engagement, then to repay the game by developing the skills of others and raising interest in the game and keeping their earning potential longer.

Key elements of the contract
Firstly, the retirement contract is excluded from the salary cap. This means that a club can keep a talented stalwart to their end without having to be squeezed out by cap pressures, which will be a winner for the fans in general as I would assume most neutral fans would be happy for Adam Reynolds and any long-term club legend to see out their days with their club.

(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

The first year of a retirement contract plays out as normal and the player completes the year as per usual. Payment is from the club.

The second year is a transitional one, where the said player is to bring along his replacement so he effectively starts the year in a position but ends as a back-up for his replacement.

In Reynolds’ example, he would start the year at half but the expectation is that he develops his replacement, such as Blake Taaffe, so that Taaffe plays more and more games over the course of the year and is the club half by the end of the year. Payment is from the club.

During the second year and the third, the contracted player will spend time in reserves or the feeder club cup. This is an important part of the agreement as it gets experienced and skilled heads into reggies, which is going to help develop younger players and keep talent in the NRL pool for longer.

One of the consistent arguments against expansion is the belief (right or wrong) there isn’t enough talent. Our longest serving and most experienced players retire from firsts and a lot of skills vanish from the game.

Now, I can’t speak for these players as I never reached that level. However, I have read a lot of commentary where they express difficulties in life after the game and a gap in their routines. Some would like to keep going but the intensity of firsts is too draining.

Many also thank the game for giving them so much. This is a chance for them to give a lot back to the game, step away slowly with some grace, play for fun again at the end of their career and still earn good coin without the same levels of intensity.

It presents the players in reggies with the opportunity of learning skills from the best and repays the NRL for excluding their contract from the cap by developing the skill pool.

In the third year of a four- or five-year deal, the player runs out in his club’s reserves, helping to develop the club skill base. He can fill in in firsts if his protégé is seriously injured or the club has general injury problems.

His salary is paid by the club with some subsidy from NRL. Where is Benji Marshall at? He loves the game. What a boost it would have been for the Tigers if they could have kept him with no salary cap impact and he spends his latter years having a raging time in reggies on good coin.

(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

And it would be no disrespect to him as it would be known his time in reggies is part of his contractual obligation. What a valuable input into Balmain junior talent development.

How many extra locals would turn up with their kids to watch a second-grade game at Leichhardt or Redfern if Marshall or Reynolds were running around?

The final year (or year four and five of a five-year contract) of the contract, the player spends in the bush with a country team.

Again, the purpose is to develop youth skills and spread interest in the game. Adam Reynolds would be a hit running around with Dubbo firsts or a local Townsville team.

It would bring youngsters to the game and generate a lot of interest. In the final year (or two if a five-year contract), the salary is paid by the NRL and they work through a negotiation with the player regarding the country team he would play for. They wouldn’t necessarily have to live there as they could get flown there for training once a week and the weekend game.

Using Adam Reynolds as an example, getting to the end of his career, he talks with the club and between them he thinks he wants to play for at least three or maybe four to five years, but the club thinks he’s got two or three quality years left and they need to make arrangements for the future, with life after Reynolds.

So they involve the NRL and negotiate a retirement contract for four years, excluded from salary cap.

Year one he plays with Souths on $900,000, $300,000 in trust.

Year two he plays for Souths, with his job being to get Taaffe or another understudy up to the level to replace him. He is paid by Souths $600,000, $100,000 in trust.

In year three, he’s part of Souths’ extended squad (not counted in 30) and plays in reggies all year, inputting his experience and skill, hopefully having a lot of fun without excess intensity and pressure. Also he is available to play firsts if they have a disaster level year of injuries. The contract value is $400,000, 25 per cent paid by the NRL.

In year four he’s off to country league Group 11, with Dubbo CYMS, on a contract of $300,000 paid by the NRL.

He ends up having such a good time and enjoying the extra coin and having had such a great impact that the NRL happily extend his contract for another year.

So, what do you think, fellow Roarers? Does this idea have legs or just a monumental brain fart?