Clint Newton's live TV clash with Karl Stefanovic over NRL media blackout

Rugby League Players Association boss Clint Newtown has fended off a prickly exchange with TV host Karl Stefanovic, imploring the NRL to simply come back to the negotiating table amid the ongoing game-day media blackout from players. Players have refused to speak with media and broadcasters before and after games since before the State of Origin finale, after talks over a new collective bargaining agreement with the NRL broke down.

Newton staunchly defended the players' action, saying the NRL had simply stopped trying to negotiate - prompting players to take action in order to put pressure on the league. Newton has refused to rule out a potential boycott of the Dally M presentation at the end of the season, should negotiations remain stalled as they are now.

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Hitting out at Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) boss Peter V'landys, who Newtown said was trying to 'dictate terms' to players, Newtown said he wasn't trying to 'discredit' any position taken by the NRL. Instead, he said the top priority for players at the moment was simply for negotiations to resume.

"We're not going to get into a habit of trying to maliciously attack people and discredit them, we just want to get back to the table with Peter, with an IR (industrial relations) mediator and get on with it and I think that'll solve the problem," he said. He added that the NRL was 'making up problems', a response to V'landys claiming the media blackout was part of a 'confected conflict'.

"What the NRL has developed is a bad habit of creating and sometimes making up problems to steal attention away from the truth and the reality is our claims haven't changed ... they still remain," he said. "We just want to get back to the table with an industrial relations expert and just get on with it."

However the interview on the Today show on Wednesday morning became somewhat tense when Stefanovic interjected after Newton outlined the benefits of the Players Association's recent meeting with Australian Council Of Trade Unions. "I think we know what you're up to," Stefanovic said.

"What's that Karl?" Newton shot back, with Stefanovic then asking "What do you reckon?" Newton said the meeting with the ACTU was primarily to determine if what the players were pushing for in their negotiations was reasonable or not.

Billy Slater labels ongoing media blackout 'ridiculous'

The tense exchange comes after Melbourne Storm great and Queensland coach Billy Slater labelled the media blackout 'ridiculous'. Taking to his podcast, Slater called for all involved to 'grow up'.

"The players not talking to the media, this is getting ridiculous now. Can we just grow up and just work this out? I don't understand," he said on The Billy Slater Podcast.

"To watch a game of footy and not hear from the players after the game, I don't understand how we can't sit down and work something out. "

When presented with Slater's comments on Today, Newton held his position that it was V'Landys and the ARLC that had walked away from the negotiating table. "Peter was the one that walked away from negotiations three weeks ago, it's great that he's stepped back to the table, that's fantastic, but one thing that you can't do, is you can't dictate terms to our members," he said.

"Ultimately they're going to decide who represents them, which is what they do all the time, and ultimately we do want an industrial relations mediator at the table with us to resolve it. That's what happens in disputes, I don't see what's so outrageous about these claims, so we just want to get on with it."

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