The Rugby League Players Association has met with its cricketing and Australian rules counterparts to gain an insight into how those unions won their own battles for a guaranteed share of revenue.

The AFL and Cricket Australia recently ended their pay wars, leaving rugby league as the remaining sport yet to finalise a collective bargaining agreement. RLPA boss Ian Prendergast, who is pushing for a 29 per cent share of revenue, has compared notes with AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh and Australian Cricketers Association CEO Alistair Nicholson during an Australian Athletes Alliance meeting during the week. The trio are directors on the AAA board and used the gathering in Melbourne to share lessons from their own battles with their respective governing bodies.

"We compared notes on their deals, what worked, what didn't throughout their negotiations so that we can factor that in as we approach this final stage of our negotiation," Prendergast said.

"The focus now shifts to us in making sure we hold up our end of the bargain from a AAA perspective.

"Ultimately, you benefit from the other sports being strong, so we need to ensure we're striving to deliver best-practice arrangements for our athletes. The [AFL and cricket deals] give you confidence in what you're striving to achieve for your members. That's based on being in line with best practice across not only sports overseas but also major sports in Australia."

NRL players and clubs remain in limbo as they await confirmation of a salary cap figure, although it will most likely be $9.2 million for next season. Even if the parties agree, it would take just five clubs to scupper any arrangement under the terms of the funding agreement, which requires 75 per cent of clubs to rubber stamp the CBA. It's unlikely that will eventuate and there has been progress made since NRL boss Todd Greenberg involved himself in negotiations.

Past and present athletes from a range of sports – including cricket's Mike Hussey, basketball's Joe Ingles, rugby union's Dean Mumm, netball's Nat Medhurst, AFL's Brad Sewell and rugby league's Christian Welch – gathered on Wednesday to discuss issues pertinent to their professions. AAA directors and other sports officials also held briefings as part of an information-sharing session.

"One of the discussions was the approach to collective bargaining to ensure you achieve a successful outcome, not only for the athletes but also to take the game forward into the future," Prendergast said.

"There is a lot of talk about partnership and we teased that out in more detail as to what that actually means to athletes and the challenge of getting other stakeholders to buy into that.

"That's about engaging and empowering athletes. You only have to look at where the cricketers got to, that was a very willing negotiation and the challenge they now have is to rebuild that bridge – if indeed it is burned – so they can move forward together.

"The main things that came out of the bargaining discussions was that you need to ensure you are disciplined in striving for the objectives that you set out to achieve; that you keep the players united and if there's pressure to get it over the line, make sure it's a fair outcome for the members you are representing.

"They are the main themes. We spoke about the importance of keeping the players actively involved and we discussed the role they have played in our negotiations so far," he said

NRL players have been right behind their union and have participated in a number of actions, such as wearing union-brand caps and strapping tape, in a show of solidarity.

"Our player involvement has probably been more significant than the involvement of the players in the cricket and AFL deals, even though they were united and found their voice late in the piece," Prendergast said.

"Our players have really been driving the agenda throughout this process and that has allowed us to get to where we are now, which is hopefully securing a deal in coming weeks that delivers certainty to the industry to avoid the type of situation we saw in cricket or the AFL when you consider how long it took them to secure a deal."