Phil Gould and Kevin Walters have led calls for a major overhaul to the NRL player market, urging the game's powerbrokers to introduce a trade window.
As the fallout from Jack Wighton's move to South Sydney for 2024 continues, many within the game have again raised concerns over players being allowed to negotiate and sign with rival clubs in the middle of the season.
The 30-year-old inked a four-year contract with the Bunnies, but will see out the remainder of this season with the Raiders despite knocking back a tabled extension worth in excess of $4 million.
Wighton is not the only player to have his contract negotiations play out in public, with the likes of Mitchell Moses and Cameron Munster also the subject of in intense bidding wars recently, before opting to stay at their respective clubs, Parramatta and Melbourne.
MORE: Raiders coach Ricky Stuart addresses Jack Wighton departure
The contract saga has now led to renewed calls for an overhaul to the current transfer system in the NRL, which allows players to sign with rival clubs over a year in advance.
Speaking to the media on Thursday morning, Broncos coach Kevin Walters admitted the current process is a bad look for the game and believes there are "no winners" in a situation such as Wighton leaving Canberra.
“Certainly I believe the NRL need to look at that," Walters said.
"There should be a timeframe when players can negotiate for next year if they’re not already re-signed at that club. Definitely…it’s tough for the Raiders, tough for Ricky, tough for Jack Wighton as well. Nobody wins there really.
"I would have thought in the off-season, from October through until whenever, that’s when you can negotiate with other clubs…that just makes sense to me.
“It’s not a great look on the club, not a great look for the fans…nobody wins."
Jason Demetriou admitted it wasn't ideal for the Green Machine and said he would be open to a change in the system.
“I understand that it’s tough when a player is having to do this in-season…we went through it with Adam [Reynolds] as well," he said.
“I’m not sure how it works, I’d have to get more information and find out how it works.
"Everyone know it’s not ideal that players are signing contracts when there’s this long to go at their current club. I’d be open to listening to anything they have to offer."
Phil Gould calls for NRL draft system, tighter restrictions
One of rugby league's most respected voices has called for a large-scale change to the NRL trade system, urging the competition to introduce strict trade windows and a yearly draft.
Speaking on Six Tackles With Gus, Phil Gould teed off on the "flawed" set-up and believes there are significant changes that need to be made.
"The movement of players between NRL clubs has been flawed right throughout history," he said.
"We have never ever negotiated this back with the Players’ Association. We have done four or five CBAs now and never once tried to negotiate what is in the best long-term interest of the game, which is a draft system or trade windows.
"The draft system is the fairest and the most transparent – we need to set our country up and our development system up for this.
"There is no risk in the world that if a player like Jack Wighton [comes off-contract]…there are only a few clubs they will go to, they don’t just randomly land at a team coming last.
"The team running last has got to pay an absolute fortune, over and above their value, to get them in – which undermines their salary cap and will hurt them down the track.
"The whole system is wrong – all power is with the player agent and all power is with the negotiating player. There is nothing being given back to the game…it is in the best long-term interest of the game for there to be a draft or very strict trade windows.
"It works in every other professional sport around the globe, but suddenly our rugby league players won’t agree to that – that’s just total irresponsibility and it’s greedy."
When can NRL players sign with other clubs?
As it stands, NRL players are allowed to negotiate and sign with rival clubs from November 1st of the year before their deal expires.
This means that a player who is off-contract at the end of 2024 will be able to sign with a club for 2025 and beyond as of November this year.
Will the NRL introduce a trade window?
At this stage, there has been no indication from the NRL about introducing a dedicated trade window.
