Former Australian prop Glenn Lazarus has floated the idea of the NRL directly paying players – instead of clubs – to prevent salary cap issues.
This off-season alone, Wests and Cronulla became embroiled in salary cap dramas, while Canterbury, Manly and Parramatta have been found guilty of breaches in recent years.
As well, players are commonly wriggling out of deals or being shopped to other teams while still under contract.
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This week alone, reports have claimed Cowboys back-rower Ethan Lowe and Broncos back Jordan Kahu may be on the move just four weeks out from the season.
Lazarus says the constant disorder is a "blight on the game" and needs to be addressed now.
And he has a solution.
"Dealing with salary caps is quite a delicate thing. All the cheques and balances, with players needing to be offloaded and so forth," Lazarus told Macquarie Sports Radio.
"It’s just a circus, a merry-go-round ... I had a person say to me a while ago that maybe it's time that the NRL start paying all the players.
"Rather than giving lump sums to clubs, have the NRL just pay the players.
"The clubs would negotiate whatever fee that the player wants. Once that's been agreed to, the club issues the contract and the NRL pays that.
"I don't know how you would set that up, but it would mean that the NRL would have more of an idea of what's going on in clubs in regards to salary caps.
"Whether it would fix or increase the issues around the salary cap [I don't know] – but something's got to be done."
The 19-time NSW representative believes the frequent rumours around player movement, coupled with a string of off-field incidents, is taking the shine away from the season's approaching kick-off.
"We need to fix this because for the last couple of months now, all we've been talking about is players' behaviour off the field and salary cap issues," said the ex-Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne forward.
"It's hurting the game ... These things are reported about on a daily basis. We just need to get those fixed and get them right.
"Whether or not we can do that, time will tell."
