“Protecting players against themselves”: V’Landys ready for legal challenge over R360 bans

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'Landys has claimed the NRL's ten-year bans for any players or player agents signing, or engaging with R360, will hold up if a legal challenge presents itself.

The NRL last week revealed any player or agent who goes as far as to negotiate, sign or enter a letter of intent with an unrecognised competition - like R360 will be to the ARLC - will be banned for ten years.

"Any NRL Player who negotiates, signs, or enters into a Letter of Intent, Playing Contract, or any other form of agreement—whether verbal or written—with a football competition, league, or organisation not recognised by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) as a national sporting federation, will be banned from participation in the NRL and any ARLC-sanctioned competitions for a period of ten (10) years," the NRL wrote in a statement.

The NRL also revealed they would have discretion to lift the ban, but did not elaborate on when that might occur.

R360 has posed a major threat to the NRL, with multiple players being courted by the Saudi Arabian-backed competition, and millions of tables being put on the table.

There were some question marks around the legality of the NRL being able to ban players from participating in the NRL or other ARLC-sanctioned competitions for signing on with R360, but V'Landys, speaking to 9 News, said the threat of a ban was perfectly legal, and about protecting players from themselves.

"Look, we won't do anything without getting it tested legally, ourselves. We're very confident in our legal position," he told Nine's Today Show.

"You know, we look at it at every angle.

"We, as the custodians of the game, have a very important duty to protect it, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

"Not only are we protecting the game, but we're protecting the players against themselves."

V'Landys has had multiple cracks at the competition, calling it at one stage a "competition out of a Corn Flakes box", and he doubled down on that criticism in his comments, suggesting the R360 organisers would "exploit" NRL players.

"These are fly-by-nighters and they're going to exploit them and then [they] may not possibly get paid," he said.

"They could go a season or two seasons without being paid and lose that prime position of their life.

"So, it's not only protecting the game, but it's protecting the players as well."