Cronulla Sharks amend NRLW physiotherapist job listing from volunteer to contract after backlash

7NEWS

30-04-2025

The Cronulla Sharks have been forced into an embarrassing backdown after advertising a physiotherapy position with its NRLW team as a volunteer role.
The club posted a job advertisement for an assistant physiotherapist saying it was looking for someone to work with the women's side to 'assist in planning and delivering suitable treatment, rehabilitation, strength and conditioning programs for players recovering from injury', provide reports on injured players, attend up to four training sessions a week and matches on the weekend.
Following a backlash from physiotherapists the advertisement has been amended to a 'contract/temp' role.
The move comes on the eve of the women's State of Origin opener on Thursday night and two months out from the NRLW's first round.
The club told The Nightly despite the initial listing saying the role was 'voluntary' it had always intended to pay the person who was hired in terms of reimbursements as it did for those who work in its junior and pathway systems.
It would not say what the renumeration for the 'volunteer' would be, but that the full-time physiotherapist for the NRLW team was paid as a salaried employee.
Cronulla boss Dino Mezzatesta has since confirmed the position will receive pay at or above market rates, with the amended advertisement offering an 'honorarium position'.
A 'note' at the end of the listing has now been added.
'This role has been reclassified from the Volunteer category to Contract/Temporary, we apologise if this was posted in the wrong category, however we followed the prompts in the site. Traditionally that's where this role has always been posted. This role has always had a payment associated with it, and this will continue,' the listing states.
A club spokesman tried to explain the issue as a mix-up.
'The club has reviewed the advertised role and its responsibilities and made adjustments to better reflect the areas the successful applicant is likely to be involved in. The final scope will also be shaped by the skills, experience, and availability of the successful candidate,' they said.
'The final scope will also be shaped by the skills, experience, and availability of the successful candidate.
'The role will not operate in isolation and will be guided and supported by senior team members throughout.
'Additionally, while the role was always intended to include an honorarium for their services, we acknowledge this was not clearly stated in the initial advertisement. We have now updated the ad to include this detail to ensure greater clarity.'
The Australian Physiotherapy Association said it had planned to write to the Sharks about the issue, telling its members in a letter the position 'comes with significant responsibilities and a substantial time commitment, and is not the type of position that we would expect to be a volunteer position'.
The APA claim they were inundated with similar stories from physios across elite sport, who have been asked to work on a volunteer basis at professional clubs or with minimal pay.
'This is a learning opportunity, but it has unearthed a wider systemic issue that has been going on for too long,' APA CEO Rob LoPresti said.
'What we're hearing from our membership that this is potentially indicative of a bigger, broader and more systemic issue.'
LoPresti said he was also concerned about possible gaps between pay for men's and women's sports, with funding and season length often a challenge for clubs.
He also believed a number of clubs across multiple sports attempted to trade off the experience of working in elite systems as a way to not pay medical staff appropriately.
'We're not saying there is never a place for any volunteering ever, but not at elite levels,' LoPresti said.
'At elite levels we have high expectations of our athletes, and we should have high expectations around the medical support.
'We would also hope and expect that when talking about the medical treatment of women and men's sporting codes, that there is equivalence there.'
Daughter of former Bulldogs player Rod Silva and media personality Marlee Silva shared a post of the listing before it was amended.
'A lot of people upset at the moment because there has been this job advertised for a NRLW team that is a physio and is volunteer position,' she said in an online video.
'Some people are really shocked by that, an allied health professional expected to work for nothing.
'This is not new, there are many instances within the NRLW where there are roles that are unpaid or underpaid and are not considered full time from a pay scale, but the expected workload is certainly at the fulltime end of the spectrum.'
Silva said the furore over the job listing spoke to a wider issue within the NRLW.
'I think it is so important to listen to players when you talk about where the women's game, what needs to be done next in terms of making sure there is gender equality,' she said.
'Everyone talks about players pay and it needing to be equal but in order to help those girls get there and to make the product super profitable - which I swear I'm talking about all the time - the best possible thing we can do for the women's game is ensure that the staff from coaching, physio, everyone who works in the NRLW be paid full time and be paid at an equal level to their male counterparts in the club, that will help the game exponentially.
'There are so many incredible people who have sacrificed, who have volunteered lots of hours, who have worked way more than they're getting paid to get the women's game where it's at, which is amazing and admirable, but we should reward them by making sure they are paid equally.'