Retired NRL premiership winner Chad Townsend has revealed what is actually inside an NRL contract, lifting the lid on something few fans have ever seen.
The halfback revealed there are more than 50 pages in a standard NRL contract, and that players sign the same deal to play in the competition, with obvious variations around length of contract, options (either team, player or in some cases, mutual) and the amount of money to be paid.
Watch the full video on Chad Townsend's YouTube channel above.
Townsend reveals that contracts start with a clause which claims players are obligated to play games when and where reasonably required, to the best of their ability, before going through NRL player welfare rules, operations manual and testing policies.
Also covered in the contract are clauses surrounding media coverage as well as publicity and sponsorship.
"Obviously there care clauses around what you can do with sponsorship and your IP," Townsend said.
"The player grants the club for the duration of the employment term, a licence to use the licence, and to licence the use of his IP.
"You as a player basically sign over your right to your club to use your face and image, so that's why you see all the clubs using their big dogs in their billboards and marketing. The players don't get paid for that.
"There is a long way to go in that type of stuff. I think the players are a little bit ripped off in that stuff, using their face and name all the time and not getting money for that aspect of what it is.
"Obviously there has been a very big shift in College Football at the moment with guys making money off their names and likeness."
The contracts also confirms clubs have an obligation to provide an opportunity for the player to train whether that be with the NRL side or an affiliated outfit.
Intriguingly, player salaries are also inclusive of superannuation, rather than on top of the wage as is the case in most jobs.
"One of the things that you may not know is that we are employees of the clubs as players. If you're an employee, you get paid superannuation," Townsend said.
"As players, we pay superannuation out of our contract, so we don't get superannuation on top, it comes out of the contract.
"So, if you sign for $100,000, you take out your management fees, you take out your tax, you take out your superannuation, so obviously there are a few things that come out before your money hits your account."
NRL contracts also cover numerous sections of injuries around career ending or non-career ending injuries, while they also talk about behaviours players are expected to adhere to.
Townsend also reveals that health insurance is now taken directly out of the players play, rather than paid for by the clubs, but indicated that could change when the next CBA is agreed on.
Players receive six tickets per game they play in, while contracts also cover the well-publicised ten-day cooling off period.
Contracts also confirm that players get eight days sick leave per year, three days of leave on the death of a family member, five days of parental leave and six weeks of annual leave commencing from the date of the player's last match.
Townsend said that has now changed, with rookies getting seven weeks leave, and those who have done more than five pre-seasons getting nine weeks leave.
Players are also entitled to at least one day off per week during the term of their employment with the clubs.
Contracts also subject to them being registered by the NRL, with the game's governing body holding the right to not register a contract.
Townsend also reveals that relocation allowances are also allowed and sit outside of the salary cap.
"When I moved to North Queensland, I was already in Queensland with the bubble. The borders were shut at that stage, so I didn't have a chance to go back to Sydney to pack up my home and get it all ready to go up to Queensland," Townsend said.
"The Cowboys did a phenomenal job. They were like don't worry, we will handle everything. My whole house got packed up for me, put together, shipped and brought up to Townsville and North Queensland.
"That handled the stress of that situation when you're moving. It's usually around the $15,000 mark."
The halfback also reveals that every time his contract value was publicised by the media, it wasn't correct.
Eligibility for representative football is also listed on a separate page of the contract, with players needing to indicate their highest level of representation at junior level, their country of birth, and parents and grandparents' birthplace on both sides of the family.
Townsend's grandmother - on his mother's side - was born in New Zealand and the former Shark, Warrior, Cowboy and Rooster even revealed that there was a conversation about him playing for the Kiwis at one stage.
"When I played for the Warriors early on in my career, I played there in 2014 and 2015, I obviously lived in New Zealand for a few years, there was a conversation around whether I was interested in playing for the Kiwis. I wasn't at all, so it didn't progress much," Townsend said.
NRL contracts are 56 pages in total.
I’m surprised that this hasn’t been done years ago.
Perhaps Chad will amuse us further by running through a couple of “typical” contracts between a player and his manager.
I’m confident that there would be some appalling instances of players getting ripped off. Those players would likely give a copy to Chad on the understanding that the names of the player and manager were redacted.