If Brisbane Broncos forward Payne Haas or Warriors playmaker Shaun Johnson wins the Dally M award in September, they can thank the mythology of former Penrith halfback Craig Gower.

An in-principle agreement that ended rugby league’s long-running standoff in collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations was struck at 6pm on Thursday night. It came less than two months before the legal framework between rugby league’s players and the governing body would cease to exist.

The agreement ended escalating protests from the players that were starting to resemble the game’s bargaining breakdown 20 years ago – one that showed the players meant business, even if it meant sacrifice. But one for which the story, in some ways, has never been settled.

In 2003, as the sport was rebuilding after the Super League war, a nascent Rugby League Players Association led by former Knights forward Tony Butterfield was pushing the NRL for a CBA that could promise players a minimum wage and basic insurance protections. League administrators were largely in support, but several outstanding items kept the sides at loggerheads.

That standoff was highlighted by the players boycotting the Dally M awards. The cancellation prevented former Penrith halfback Craig Gower from winning the medal.

Butterfield describes that action as “the catalyst that got us to the first ever deal.” It’s difficult to argue otherwise. Within months the sides had struck an agreement that has laid the platform to help the code to recover from the damage of the 1990s and grow.

But the parties had already done the legwork in negotiations when the boycott happened. Reflecting on the period, then NRL chief executive, David Gallop, said the episode was “frustrating” and cancelling the Dally Ms hurt the players more than anyone.

The fateful night may have been 20 years ago, but the threat of a repeat has always felt close to the current negotiations. There were differences then but also many parallels. Gallop believes the RLPA under current chief executive, Clint Newton, adopted a better strategy which was “taking a shot at the opposition, not your own side”.

But Butterfield said it’s a different world today. For example, the players have benefited in the current dispute from having social media and a direct channel to communicate.

“It’s all about our hearts and minds,” he said. “You’ve got your two protagonists and they’re trying to convince the various stakeholders of the validity of their arguments.”

NRL and NRLW players have boycotted media obligations and covered the NRL logo on their jerseys with tape. Additional protests were planned in coming weeks if the standoff continued. The NRL has used its broadcast partners and certain media to put forward its own claims. Both methods were effective in getting their message across, but looked unlikely to get the parties back to the table.

The mood changed on Wednesday when both sides agreed to resume talks. The Australian Rugby League Commission chair, Peter V’landys, and NRL chief executive, Andrew Abdo, sat down with RLPA chair, Deirdre Anderson, and Newton.

Negotiations ensued over 48 hours and a range of outstanding issues including the players’ role in deciding the length of the season, how player data can be used and the transparency of the NRL’s financial affairs.

They culminated on Thursday evening in a statement confirming in-principle agreement from the players landing in inboxes. The significance of the five-paragraph message was as much its contents as it was who it came from: the NRL’s official media account.

The art of rugby league is in its storytelling. From Roy Masters’ fibros, to Fatty’s Nevilles and whatever else Queenslanders say at Origin time. Its boardroom battles are not immune.

Gallop said the players didn’t really think their 2003 protest through. “I felt sorry for those who missed their awards that year and although the players started their own awards it wasn’t the same.”

But Butterfield has no regret over the action, and believes the recognition for Gower exceeds even what a Dally M medal would have brought.

“There will always be an asterisk, and people will want to know what the asterisk is,” he said. “They won’t care if Johnathan Thurston won it four times, or Andrew Johns, or whoever, they will want to know the asterisk, and invariably there will be a story about [Gower’s] sacrifice.”

There may be no great sacrifice in 2023’s dispute, apart from scratches and scrapes worn by Abdo and Newton. From now, the lawyers must draft the paperwork. That’s expected to run into early next week, before the agreement will be up for ratification and then public release.

And, just as they did 20 years before, claims to the narrative will emerge. So, was it all worth it?

RLPA representative Wade Graham got in early on Triple M radio on Thursday night.

“The claims that we pressed for … if we went in for 10 claims, we got nine, nine and half of them in our favour.”

Time will tell.