3 minute read

The Sydney lawyer who defeated the NRL's first attempted roll-out of a draft 30 years ago says the same problems remain in 2021.

The lawyer who helped kibosh rugby league's first attempt to introduce a draft 30 years ago says that any similar attempt by the NRL to equalise playing talent would be doomed to failure.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said last week that the game would explore avenues in which to rebalance an increased number of blowout scorelines in the 2021 season, with the draft one possible avenue.

New Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett has urged the game's powerbrokers to take the introduction of a draft into consideration.

But Bernie Gross QC, who acted on behalf of 222 plaintiffs in 1991 to prevent the roll-out of a draft by The New South Wales Rugby League, said that three decades on, the NRL would face the same issues.

"The ARL internal draft was declared as an illegal restraint of trade for the same reasons as would now doom any future attempt to introduce a draft, to failure" Gross told AAP.

"Those reasons include that in a free society you cannot treat employees as serfs by imposing a labour contracting regime which forces them to be employed by an employer they did not choose.

"Under a draft, a player wanting to work in the industry only gets one chance at finding an employer, which is determined by chance, rather than having the freedom to have their pick of 16 or so clubs.

"Any draft - internal or external - would have to be agreed to by the players union and the clubs, which is unlikely as all player agents and most players would oppose it.

"From a legal perspective, too, the 2009 Fair Work Act would be a fatal obstacle, making it illegal to threaten, organise or take action to coerce anybody to not employ a particular player."

Leaving legal arguments aside, Gross also expressed concerns over the effect on pathways to the elite level.

A draft has the potential to disincentive clubs from investing in the junior stocks of their local areas as well as expanding their catchment.

Penrith have been the best example over recent years, with a nucleus of their premiership-winning squad coming from their local area along with regional NSW.

Under a draft system a club such as the Panthers could, in theory, sit back and commit very little to grassroots investment knowing that each year the league would deliver them fresh playing talent.

"Often the case is that guys from the bush prefer living in Western Sydney but Penrith have made a really concerted effort to build centres of excellence," Gross added.

"Those are in Penrith or in the regions. They focused on developing and identifying their star juniors so once they came to the grand final they were outstanding.

"Crucially, though, they kept the guys they had developed. A draft wouldn't allow that to happen as much."