Under-fire ARL commission chairman John Grant is fighting for his position after disgruntled NRL clubs called for an emergency general meeting to decide his fate.

An NRL spokesman confirmed the governing body had received an application for an EGM where Grant’s position will go on the line.

The NRL has eight days to respond and the NRL has 21 days from then to call the meeting.

It came on Monday as rugby league legend Peter Sterling called for strong leadership from league central as the standoff between Grant and the NRL clubs enters a second week.

Relationships between league central and clubs have reached crisis point after the governing body last week reneged on a funding model agreed to a year ago.

Clubs were expected to be invited back to the negotiation table later this week, however some chairs have vowed to boycott the meeting, refusing to re-open talks with Grant.

Sterling said the events of the past week were a disappointing look for the game.

“The one thing, when the commission was appointed, was we wanted to avoid a disconnect between the hierarchy and the clubs,” Sterling said on Monday.

“And from what I read – again I don’t know the inside story to it – there appears to be a disconnect there that we need to sort out very quickly.”

Sterling said the major issues in the game such as the collective bargaining agreement and future salary caps needed to be addressed before the holiday season.

“We’re not far away from kickoff. We need some leadership now – some strong leadership – especially after what has happened over the last week,” he said.

Sterling also said he was unsure whether Grant, who was named as the inaugural chairman of the ARLC in 2011, was still the man to govern the game.

However he queried whether there were any better alternatives.

“It’s certainly not a great look when you get a no-confidence call from the clubs,” he said.

“But the other thing too, if you’re moving somebody from a particular position, you’ve got to have somebody better to come in mind.

“I haven’t seen anybody else mentioned in that regard.

“I’m not happy to see the game not being spoken about in a great light at the moment, but I do have confidence in plenty of people in there in the hierarchy that we can nail this on the head and move on.”