The NRL are looking to introduce a trade window after all 16 club bosses threw their support behind the idea at a CEOs meeting on Wednesday.

There is a possibility of bringing in three trade windows - which would likely be at the end of the season, before the start of a new season and after the State of Origin series.

The idea behind it is to give players more freedom to move clubs.

The earliest that the NRL could have a trade period in place would be the 2021 season.

"Sometimes I think it's a little messy  - and I think the fans find it very frustrating – when there's this constant movement of clubs throughout the year, when they're playing in the jersey of the team they support," NRL Chief Executive Todd Greenberg told NRL.com.

"And I think there's a way for us, without removing all the freedom of contracts that the players currently enjoy, to still make a more orderly process out of all this.

"I'm not suggesting I'm going to be stopping clubs and coaches having coffee shop meetings – that's never going to stop.

"What I am suggesting is that there are periods of time during the year where we openly announce them, talk about them, and disclose them."

The allocated trade periods would avoid messy scenarios, like Ben Hunt playing out the 2017 season for the Broncos despite signing with the Dragons.

Greenberg admitted he would not be able to stop secret discussions between players, managers and clubs throughout the year, but was confident that a designated trade period would be a good thing for the game.

The NRL boss is set to dangle the financial carrot to the RLPA to try and gain their support.

"The principle of having the discussion is about the fans and trying to have a more orderly approach than what we currently do," Greenberg told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"There's support for that.

"Sometimes I think it's a little messy and the fans find it very frustrating when there's this constant movement of [players] throughout a year whilst they're playing in the jersey and [for the] team they support.

"I'm not suggesting I'm going to be stopping clubs and coaches having coffee shop meetings. That's never going to stop. What I'm suggesting is there's periods of time throughout the year where we openly announce them, talk about them and disclose them.

"I'm not going to be able to stop the innuendo in your column next week about 'Player Y' talking to 'Coach X'. That's been happening for 110 years and it will keep happening. That's not what the rules are designed to do.

"The rules are designed to put some structure into that. I think the fans would enjoy that and appreciate that and I think we can build some very valuable content for the future if we do it.

"What we need to do is explain that to the players and explain to them about tidying up some of the processes, but also creating valuable content for the future part of the game."

5 COMMENTS

  2. I don’t see how this stops players signing for the following season at another club. Al la Ben Hunt, Trent Merrin etc.

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