Definition of corruption is:

"having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain"

So you reckon they were being totally selfless in their dishonesty?

Seems odd that the RFL have been floating this idea for a little while as something they are thinking about, then it turns out they are already in place. That seems like poor communications causing unnecessary problems.

There is nothing wrong with Tomkins, et al having a central contract above their club contract, so a £25k contract to play for England entirely separate from their club contract. But the secrecy and mixed messages has led this to look like a subsidy for certain clubs.

Reports now showing this story might have been incorrect, RFL due to release a response.

Irish international Ben Currie seems an odd choice. The fact that two of the 3 players mentioned to be benefitting play for Warrington and one of those hasn't played for England points to corruption for me.

Given the huge sums they have At Bank in hand this is small potatoes for the RFL to hand out, they gained 2 players worth alone just from interest in their 2015 accounts despite giving the fat controller a near £50k a year pay increase (from £209k to £252k!!)

we've been given help to keep hold of Clark who was definitely DEFINITELY signing for Leeds, so we kept getting told last year. Homesickz unable to drive, all these things.

It's a done deal, hates it at Warrington.

Etc

If it's proven that the R.F.L. have been paying certain clubs without the knowledge of all S.L. clubs there should be hell to pay & heads should roll. Also (if true) the duplicity of certain clubs could cause a schism in the league, but for all we know, there maybe more recipients than we think?

Carter (Wakey) has said that he only found out about it two weeks ago.

Nigel Wood is on £200k. Surely that tells you all you need to know about the RFL.

Why not have an open policy on this.
Other sports. ie cricket and Union are happy for everyone to know about their central contracts.
Also, IF the clubs are getting extra towards their England players, surely, there shouldn't have been any problem in releasing these players for the recent training camp, which had to be scrapped.

Clearly, some things need to be kept "in house" but, this isn't one of them.

Yet again, the governing body look very amateurish and leave themselves wide open for criticism.

Finally, Tomkins didn't play for England last season, as he was injured ??

Not that it matters but I doubt the player on one of these contracts last year was Tomkins. He's already been to the NRL and flopped so I can't see anyone trying to tempt him back over.

Also, is an extra £25k really going to change someone's mind about leaving to join the NRL or RU? Figures like that are a pittance for clubs in Aus and the other code.

I still don't think the RFL are doing enough to encourage clubs to develop and keep home grown talent. Right now they have a slight dispensation on the cap but not enough imo. If you develop a player from a young age, all the way through your academy and into the first team squad, they should be off the cap completely.

Just to be devils advoacte... we are criticising the RFL for trying to execute a plan that however much its dressed up is an attempt to keep the best players in the sport.

All this just a few weeks after criticising them for not doing enough to keep Solomona in the sport.

I dont think that that is a fair comparison at all.
First of all, Solomona "retired" from RL to play Union and it was a contractual matter, rather than something that would have been helped by any kind of "central" payment.
Of course, with pressure to sign for other clubs (both in League and Union), he would have needed to renegotiate his contract at some point and he may well have moved on anyway.
However, The RFL still have a job to do in trying to ensure that Cas win their case.

The central payments themselves are not a bad thing but, why the secrecy ?

We have a marquee player rule to allow clubs to "protect" their star players and unless there is a clear policy on central payments, that all clubs are aware of, The RFL just leave themselves wide open to criticism.

They have a habit of doing certain things and then finding the reason sometime afterwards, when they realise that they haven't quite got it right.

Why not get these things right in the first place.

If there are to be additional payments to internationals, then at least have the decency to tell the clubs what the rules are,
otherwise, it just smacks of panic and favoritism, which isn't good for the game.

there is a discussion to be had about centralised contracts for Tomkins, Clarke Currie and Watkins (?) and others.

If UK RL want it then the RFL board should take soundings and then present papers to RFL council and to SLE for discussion and voting. Theses discussions should include the amounts of money and the criteria for such decisions being made.

Instead we have had secrecy and 'somebody' at the RFL given discretion to hand out money as they see fit. Clubs have been kept in the dark and the notion of a level playing field is a joke.

The RFL Non exec directors are there to hold Barwick, Wood, Rimer , Draper et al to account on behalf of the game. Did they know these payments were being made?

Good on Aaron Bower for exposing this nonsense.