League: NRL club bosses set for showdown with ARLC chairman John Grant

John Grant, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission. Photo / Photosport.

NRL club bosses have arrived at Rugby League Central for their showdown with ARL Commission chairman John Grant.

Grant's fate will be decided at the emergency general meeting following his falling out with NRL clubs over funding.

Prominent club bosses including Sydney Roosters' Nick Politis, Canterbury's Ray Dib and Cronulla's Damian Keogh have filed in.

The two groups met briefly for five minutes inside Rugby League Central before the meeting was adjourned.

The clubs are considering a revised offer put to them by the NRL which could save Grant's head.

The clubs are demanding Grant's resignation following his decision last month to rescind a club funding offer which had been agreed to by both parties. The deal, which had been agreed to in-principle for 12 months, was set to fund clubs at 130 per cent of the salary cap and deliver an extra $100 million per year into their coffers.

After a meeting of the ARLC on the weekend, the NRL on Monday put forward a revised offer to the clubs in an attempt to come to a resolution.

It's believed the NRL matched the 130 per cent agreement struck late last year however that was dependent on how much the salary cap rises by under the new collective bargaining agreement.

The NRL doesn't want to risk blowing their budget should the salary cap rise by too much while they are not willing to commit to giving the clubs two chairs on the commission.

AOC president John Coates is conducting a review into constitutional reform of the ARLC and the NRL is not willing to commit to any change until it is complete.

If the clubs press ahead with plans to axe Grant, it's believed they have the numbers.

The NRL-owned clubs Gold Coast and Newcastle will not vote to oust Grant however the other clubs, who have the support of the NSWRL, appear to have the requisite 14 of 26 votes.

In explaining his decision to pull the club funding offer, Grant argued that the NRL could no longer afford it with a number of issues taking precedence including grassroots funding, taking over the NRL's digital arm from Telstra in 2018 and a sinking fund to support struggling clubs.

"Things have changed," Grant said last month. "We had an agreement struck in December 2015 on a compacted funding. It was roughly $100 million extra to clubs per year and $100 million to grassroots.

"And the intervening years, the digital world's interrupting normal broadcast, we've got participation issues that need to be addressed today.

"I'd be very surprised if they (the clubs) don't understand what we're dealing with and we don't get to an outcome that is appropriate for all parties."

- AAP