{"id":214386,"date":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214386\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","slug":"counterfeiting-a-code-nrl-announces-10-year-ban-for-players-who-engage-with-r360-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214386\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Counterfeiting a code\u2019: NRL announces 10-year ban for players who engage with R360 | NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> has vowed to ban any player who leaves the code for R360 for 10 years, as it fights to fend off the threat of the breakaway rugby competition.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday, the NRL also threatened to ban any agent if they take a player to the rebel competition.<\/p>\n

It is understood any player suspensions would not come into force until after the player has left the NRL, meaning defectors could still be free to play out 2026.<\/p>\n

The likes of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Zac Lomax, Payne Haas, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Jye Gray are among those believed to be considering moving to the competition.<\/p>\n

The NRL said the rules would apply to any competition that is not recognised as a national sporting organisation by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commission has a clear duty to act in the best interests of rugby league and its fans,\u201d ARLC chair Peter V\u2019landys said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will take all necessary steps to protect the future of the game. Unfortunately, there will always be organisations that seek to pirate our game for potential financial gain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t invest in pathways or the development of players. They simply exploit the hard work of others, putting players at risk of financial loss while profiting themselves. They are, in reality, counterfeiting a code.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measures come after the NRL last week met with the 17 club bosses, who asked for action against any defecting players and their managers.<\/p>\n

Broncos premiership player Payne\u00a0Haas is one player believed to be considering R360. Photograph: Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Clubs had discussed whether the rules could apply to all players who defected, or only those who broke contracts to do so.<\/p>\n

But Wednesday\u2019s statement makes it clear that the league wants to take action against anyone who leaves for a rebel competition.<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys has previously labelled R360 as a competition that has \u201ccome out of a corn-flakes box\u201d, warning players risk not being paid by joining such leagues.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf it all goes wrong it\u2019s the players who suffer most,\u201d V\u2019landys said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery stakeholder must be accountable to the standards our fans expect. We\u2019ve listened to our clubs, and we\u2019ve acted decisively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRL would have a right to lift the ban, but says it would only be done in \u201cexceptionally extenuating circumstances\u201d on a \u201ccase-by-case basis\u201d.<\/p>\n

It comes after Rugby Australia last week banned any player who joins R360 from representing the Wallabies, with that stance taken by seven other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis policy reflects the united stance of the Commission and NRL clubs,\u201d NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow unrecognised competitions to undermine the integrity, professionalism and future of rugby league.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL has vowed to ban any player who leaves the code for R360 for 10 years, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-214386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}