THE Newcastle Knights have shown solidarity with their fellow NRL players by postponing a planned media event at McDonald Jones Stadium on Wedneday, adding to the pressure on the governing body to resolve the impasse over a new collective-bargaining agreement.
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The Knights sent out an email on Monday to media outlets, extending an invitation to interview players from their entire NRL squad.
"Knights players will assemble at McDonald Jones Stadium to participate in several projects, including content capture, official team photo and one-hour media access for all contracted top-30 players," the email said.
But at roughly the same time the email was sent, news broke that players from Cronulla and St George Illawarra were boycotting similar functions.
Brisbane forward Kurt Capewell, a member of the Rugby League Players Association's player advisory group, then raised the stakes by revealing on Tuesday that all other clubs would follow the lead of the Sharks and Dragons.
Knights football manager Peter Parr said Newcastle's players held a meeting on Tuesday and, after consulting with the RLPA, asked to postpone the media day.
"Basically we respect the wishes of the players," Parr told the Newcastle Herald.
"There's probably not a lot more to be said."
Capewell also confirmed that players would consider striking as a last resort.
The NRL announced before Christmas that the salary cap for 2023 would rise from $9.6 million to $12.1 million - a 25 per cent increase - while the NRLW salary cap was set to more than double, from $350,000 last season to $884,000.
But there are other sticking points that have angered the RLPA and its members, and players believe they have been ignored and disrespected by head office.
The cancellation of today's planned media opportunity means Knights fans will have to continue waiting for skipper Kalyn Ponga to make his first public comments since his much-publicised incident in the Hotel Delany.
Ponga has been silent for the past five months after he and teammate Kurt Mann were videoed emerging, rather sheepishly, from a toilet cubicle. The footage soon went viral, prompting the NRL integrity unit to launch an investigation, which included commissioning drug testers to visit a Newcastle training session.
The NRL did not reveal the results of those tests but told the Newcastle Herald last year they would be taking no further action in relation to any rule breach.
Knights management have made no further statement, other than saying they supported the NRL's decision.
Neither Mann nor Ponga have discussed the incident in public since.
As Newcastle's captain and one of the game most high-profile players, Ponga was likely to have been asked about the issue, had today's media opportunity proceeded as planned.
Whether he would have been willing to elaborate remains anyone's guess.
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