Current head of the RLPA, Clint Newton, in his playing days. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The Rugby League Players Association believe the NRL's proposed transfer window is "well short" of their expectations, turning down the floated concept.

The NRL are eager to fix their current transfer system, which allows players to sign for rival clubs up to 16 months before playing a first-grade game for the club, hence the proposed transfer windows.

The alteration would mean free agents can only sign with a new club the Monday after the Grand Final in the final year of their deal.

For example, Apisai Koroisau officially put pen to paper with the Wests Tigers in December, 2021 yet won't run out for a regular season game for the club until March, 2023 - 15 months after putting pen to paper.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 17: Apisai Koroisau of the Panthers reacts with team mates after a Rabbitohs error during the NRL Preliminary Final match between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium on October 17, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Under the NRL's proposal, Koroisau wouldn't have been able to ink a new deal with a rival until the day after their 2022 NRL Grand Final win, reducing the time period from 15 months to just five.

That window would run until the Monday before Round 1, acting simultaneously to a window that would allow under-contract players to request a release and vice versa, to stop it happening during the season.

The third window would run from the Monday after Round 10 through to the Monday after Origin Game III, used strictly for mid-season transfers and preventing strong clubs loaning good players from weak clubs late in the season.

RLPA CEO, Clint Newton, is open to altering the current system, but rejected the plan put on the table by the NRL.

"Don't let the fancy Americanised words fool you, it's not about trades and transfers, this is about restraints and restrictions that the game are looking to put on players," he said on SEN.

"We certainly oppose what's put forward. Is there an opportunity to make some positive changes? Sure, and we've been open to that.

"Anything that we've seen so far certainly falls well short of the expectations and certainly doesn't fairly respect the risk the players undertake when they play such a high-speed, high-collision, high-risk sport."

2020 State of Origin Media Opportunity
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 27: NRL CEO Andrew Abdo speaks to the media during a State of Origin media opportunity at Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour on October 27, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Newton claims that the proposal takes rights from players and offers nothing in return, and questions how lower-ranked clubs or new franchises would cope.

"If these restrictions were in place over the last 12 months, how does the NRL propose (incoming side) the Dolphins secure a roster for 2023? It makes no sense," he said on the radio station.

"How does a club that is looking to rebuild after an unsuccessful season, do that at their discretion throughout a football calendar year, when we just end up having a meat market at the end of the year?"

The CEO is also worried the NRL's proposal will put further spotlight on the elite players, and push veterans and fringe first-graders to the side.

"The majority of players are at the bottom end of the list: the battlers, the ones that we're meant to look after," he said.

"They'll just get pushed to the side until later in the piece. For me, that's fundamentally wrong."

With under two weeks until the current CBA runs out, both parties will be acting hastily to find middle ground on the new five-year agreement.