Former stars call for ‘NRL trade window’

Former NRL stars Ryan Hoffman and Chad Townsend have revealed how they think an NRL trade period would work during the NRL season.

Hoffman and Townsend, the two hosts of Zero Tackle's The Boardroom NRL Podcast, said it would be beneficial to the product of the game to introduce a window to stop players from staying disgruntled within a club.

"Yep, 100% this could work," Townsend said.

"As I spoke before, about how players can secure their contracts from November 1. That gives a lot of flexibility to players, right?

"But I think we're at a stage now where an in-season period needs to be looked at, and for me, whether it's between round eight and round 12 or round eight and 10."

Townsend is all for the change, and as an RLPA Director, he deems it would benefit the players who are out of favour or have limited time on the field.

Townsend also added that it benefits both parties; if a player suffers a long-term injury, and the club has salary cap space, they can source another player seamlessly to their benefit through a controlled window.

"Form, injury, suspension, teams are making decisions on contracts and whether they're going to sign players because they've seen what they've seen," he said.

"For example, the Dolphins get an injury to their left centre, and their left centre's out for the season.

"They don't have much depth, but they've got some salary cap position, and they want to bring someone in.

"So, we get to the trade period, someone like Bronson Xerri's been told, 'hey, I am not going to get re-signed past my current deal.'

"It's a no-brainer for him to leave if he would like to, and then move to the Dolphins, to then go and play for them for the rest of the season."

Former Storm star and co-host Hoffman agreed with Townsend's sentiments, calling for a change to the transfer system.

"Well, I think it'll work really well for the reasons you said because you have a lot of times, disgruntled players at clubs.

"He's not getting picked. He's not looking at getting signed. So, he's thinking to himself, 'What am I doing here?'

"A club wants to bring up a young player, which may put salary cap pressure in promoting a player, from your development list into your full-time list. That could create issues cap-wise and get you in trouble at the back end of the year.

"Just to be able to move a player around, move the pieces around.

"What do you get? You get a stronger competition."

The duo also looked at the transfer change as entertainment for fans, with more media and story-line speculation taking place during a transfer window.

"It creates media speculation, it creates talking points, Hoffman said.

"It creates more of a buzz, and a bit more of a talking point around who's going to move and what teams need what, and how can we manage this through a proper controlled period," Townsend added.

One of the hefty talking points during the NRL season is the flat period during State of Origin time, where the NRL is affected by the best players being taken out of their teams and into camps.

Hoffman believes a transfer period would fix this, strengthening teams where they're needed in a positive light, rather than players being 'dumped'.

"Imagine if you had a trade period involved in there (Origin time) as well? So you are making those teams stronger, you are talking positively about changes within the organisation.

"I think it would work brilliantly."