The NRL will consider handing over ownership of the competition to its clubs in the biggest structural overhaul of its history, league chief David Gallop has revealed in Rugby League Week.

News Limited and the Australian Rugby League have been co-owners of the NRL since 1998 but a sub-committee is looking at a new structure which would give both organisations the chance to eliminate or reduce their involvement.

Members of that sub-committee had hoped to keep the dramatic plan secret but South Sydney owner Russell Crowe let the cat out of the bag on the Footy Show last week, although he presented the proposal as an mere suggestion.

Gallop admits in RLW out on Wednesday that "the idea that clubs become direct owners of the NRL is one that is currently being looked at".

"The equity in the NRL would be an asset added to each club's balance sheet." Gallop said.

"I'm sure Russell's ideas will be taken on board."

In other news, Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald says there will definitely not be a booze ban at his club this year, despite intense speculation.

"It's not gonna happen this year," Fitzgerald says.

And RLW that goes behind the scenes of the Bulldogs revival and provide details of a retreat where former greats schooled the current young pups in the club's proud culture.

Plus South Sydney superstar-in-waiting Chris Sandow tells the magazine how the arrival in Sydney last week of his 16-month-old son primed him for the season of his life.

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