Anti-Tampering Guidelines
The current ‘anti-tampering’ guidelines state that the NRL will not register a player’s contract with a new club until after Round Thirteen in the final year of that player’s existing contract with his current club. The only exception to this is where the existing club agrees that the new contract should be registered
There is no rule to prevent clubs talking to players at any time. There is an acceptance that nobody likes to see players negotiating with a new team but there is also the reality that players in the game do change clubs and that those discussions can take place over an extended period.
Rather than introduce ‘discussion deadlines’ that have in the past been shown to be ineffective, the NRL reserves the right not to register the contract and that ensures that the player’s existing club has a fair chance of retaining its player if it wants to.