Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans says he has met with ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys amid rumours he was leading a push to oust V'landys from his post.
Cherry-Evans, the Rugby League Players' Association president, strongly denied suggestions that he was the senior player behind the reported V'landys coup, stating that he didn't believe the push came from "any one player in particular".
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The 32-year-old said he saw "eye-to-eye" with V'landys on the aspect of player welfare and stressed that players were simply upset they weren't consulted ahead of the NRL's crackdown on head-high contact.
"I just wanted to clear the air with Peter," he told Fox League's NRL360.
"Peter was kind enough to let me contact him today. It was really good that we got to see eye-to-eye and one thing we definitely see eye-to-eye is the player welfare side of what's happened recently," he said.
"That can't be underestimated how lucky we are that the NRL has come in and backed us on that front.
"It's probably just the process that it took, the situation that we're in now, that was probably the difference in opinion that we had over it. But (we're) certainly eye-to-eye with where the game stands on the player welfare side of things. It's great for us.
"There was a fair bit of it being pushed in my direction that it was a personal agenda that was being driven so hopefully after tonight people can understand that I was just voicing some frustrated and angry concerns from within the playing group.
"But there's certainly never been anything personal between myself or anyone else in the game and the hierarchy, who I've got a lot of respect for."
News of Cherry-Evans' meeting with V'landys comes after Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Webster indicated that RLPA boss Clint Newton was setting up a meeting to "soothe tensions".
Cherry-Evans added that he and the NRL's playing group wanted to "put an end" to the drama surrounding the NRL's crackdown.
"It's not ideal when this type of stuff happens in the game," he said.
"We just hope to be a bit more involved with the conversations.
"I guess that's what we're probably asking for, we're looking at getting a better understanding of why things are happening, how they're going to be implemented and then once we can get on the same page quicker, hopefully as players and as a game, we can be better at delivering that through the media."
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