As we have all seen in our time watching the NRL, we see many instances where players fail to perform to expected standards. This certainly applies to our Club, but is not unique to it. Can anyone please explain to me why it is that player contracts do not appear to have performance based clauses or consequences built into them? Rugby League is now a business and is this is quoted so many times, and for the players, it is now their employment. Every job that I have worked, has had performance management and people who fail to meet expectations or standards are managed up, or managed out. If managed out, employment is terminated in the end. Why is this not the case with professional rugby league players, if they don't perform to expected standard for an unacceptable period of time? Yes, they may get dropped, but do they still earn their dollars?
Would love comments re this and explanations?
Cheers
EE
Replies
At a pinch I'd suggest the contracts have certain clauses that wouldn't be allowed by the RLPA.
Well if that is the case, NRL players have one of the best jobs in the world.
EE, it’s no different in the AFL, NBA, NFL, NHL, EPL etc. Players negotiate guaranteed contracts because they have most of the leverage.
I get that Brett, but what other job allows people to under perform or bludge, whilst earning big $ without consequence for failing to perform.
It comes back to how do you judge whether someone is performing as an athlete ?
It is purely subjective, there is no definitive statistic that can define a players performance, especially in a team sport environment.
But the overriding factor is that elite athletes can do things in their chosen sport that few others can do. If Mitch Moses or Corey Norman want guaranteed big money they can get it because they are among the top 500 rugby league players in the universe, furthermore they are in the top 25 halves which are in very short supply.
It is always comes back to supply and demand.
Besides, players do get judged on their performance when it comes to contract renegotiations. If they fail to meet the expectations of their previous contract they'll get less favourable terms in their next contract.
Cheers Brett. I guess that is the issue. Those one longer term contracts can abuse this, aside from personal pride in their performance.
They can, but that pattern will develop over the course of their career.
Because the players are guaranteed a certain percentage of the game’s overall revenues.
Besides, how do you measure poor performance statistically in a way that can be linked to a players individual salary ?
They have a method of calculating performance clauses Browny. Let's say a player has a clause that he gets an extra 5k for every try he scores. If the previous season he scored 20, then the following year his salary cap figure is his base salary plus 100k, (5k x 20). If he then scores 25 the next season, then the following season becomes his cap figure.
It's commonly referred to "Expected to earn" & " Not expected to earn" bonuses.
I've always thought this should be an issue for coaches.
The coach is in effect the boss and his responsibility and really his sole reason for employment is to get the team to perform to the best of their ability. I don't understand why coaches don't have written into their contracts that if they don't achieve a certain result (for example a finals finish) the club has a right to review and terminate their contract if deemed necessary.
Obviously this doesn't mean that a coach would be automatically sacked if the team performed below expectations (sometimes there are tangible reasons for failure) but it would give the club the ability to deal with unacceptable results.
If a coach didn't want to accept such clauses - all good - just get another coach.
After all, there's only 16 NRL coaching jobs in the entire world - clubs shouldn't be sucking up to coaches - there's always another candidate ready to step up. This would negate situations where clubs are hamstrung with coaches that aren't achieving results. After all, in sport - like business - results are everything.
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