Players in $7m cap heaven as deal done - Herald Sun

ARL Commission chairman John Grant. Picture: Craig Greenhill Source: The Daily Telegraph

THE NRL salary cap will reach $7 million by 2017 after the players last night agreed to a new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement.

After months of tense negotiations, the RLPA confirmed a vote of 83 per cent from the entire playing group had finally ended the pay stand-off between players and the ARL Commission.

The ARLC has yet to announce details, but The Courier-Mail can reveal the salary cap has now been set for the next five years, bringing clarity to clubs as they secure playing talent for the future.

This year's cap has been set at $5.85 million, rising to $6.3 million in 2014, $6.55 million in 2015, $6.8 million by 2016 and $7 million in 2017. Under the new heads of agreement the players will be able to renegotiate the CBA for 2016 if the game's revenue continues to increase at a rapid rate.

In a statement RLPA boss David Garnsey said the new CBA went a "long way" towards achieving the RLPA's objective of establishing the best employment framework for elite professional athletes in Australia and New Zealand.

Garnsey praised the NRL stars that led discussions at the negotiating table including Test skipper Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Robbie Farah and Paul Gallen.

ARLC chairman John Grant

said the deal was beneficial for players, both now and in their post-playing careers.

"It's a very good deal and it recognises the value of the players to the code," Grant said.

"But it also recognises the fact that players' futures need to be provided for after playing and it also recognises the short-term nature of some of the careers in rugby league."

Des McGovern, one of Australia's finest rugby league wingers of the 1950s, has died at the age of 84.

McGovern made his Test debut against New Zealand in 1952 and played a further six Tests in the next four years, as well as embarking on the 1952-53 and 1956-57 Kangaroo tours of Britain and France.

He played 18 matches for Queensland between 1949 and 1956 and then turned his hand to coaching with the Toowoomba Clydesdales.