The NRL has announced strengthened anti-tampering rules that will punish club officials and player agents from making public or private comments about the future of contracted players.
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Under the new rules, which will come into effect on February 1 and were agreed to by both the NRL and the Rugby League Players’ Association, clubs and agents have been informed they will face sanctions if they make “certain public and private statements that could be seen as attempts to lure or entice a player to join another club”.
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Penalties for breaching the new rules may include financial penalties for offending clubs, players and agents along with salary cap penalties and, in the most serious circumstances, deregistration of club officials, agents and players.
The NRL clarified that any public statements would not be considered tampering should the player is given permission by his or her current club to negotiate elsewhere.
The changes come after Lachlan Galvin’s messy, mid-season exit from the Wests Tigers. Only adding to the drama were comments from Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould, who called Galvin “the best teenage footballer I’ve ever seen” in 2024 and declared he could “earn more money out of rugby league than any player in history”.
While it is unclear if that incident in itself sparked the NRL’s decision to alter its rules, it did cause plenty of debate at the time of Galvin’s move to the Bulldogs.
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Veteran rugby league reporter Paul Crawley said on Fox League’s NRL 360 that there was little doubt Gould was “making a pitch” for Galvin indirectly, while Andrew Webster revealed Gould’s antics were starting to get on the nerve of rival clubs.
“This is the stuff that drives other clubs insane, because he’s clearly pitching up for him and using that platform,” Webster said.
“These blokes who have got television programs with conflicts of interest, it’s a disgrace.
“That’s where Gus is smart, he gets the ball rolling and a narrative starting. He plants the seed in Lachlan Galvin’s parent’s heads and in the kid’s head that he’s keen on him.
“Unless you’re aware of it, you don’t know it is happening.”
At the time though, regardless of his intentions, Gould had not done anything wrong but under the NRL’s new rules he and the Bulldogs would be at risk of sanction.
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