Rugby league's ugly civil war abated slightly on the day Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Grant's axing was on the cards at an Extraordinary General Meeting at League Central. Grant is likely to step down in February 2018 at the end of his tenure and shortly after next year's World Cup.

It's understood club bosses wrangled an agreement out of the ARLC to re-install annual grants at 30 per cent above the level of the yet-to-be-determined salary cap for 2018, but faced concessions on  some other fronts.

A potential arms race on football department spending is set to be stymied after a compromise was reached on how much each club can spend outside the salary cap in areas such as coaching, recruiting and centres of excellence. A sinking fund to safeguard cash-strapped clubs – long lobbied against by some of the more financially independent clubs – was also agreed to.

The common ground between the ARLC and the clubs was arrived at after the majority of tight-lipped chairpersons exited exhausting talks with no comment to the waiting media shortly after 5pm on Tuesday. Grant's future is secure until the end of next year, though, after he overcame several roadblocks throughout the day that threatened to tip the clubs to breaking point and dump the commission's inaugural chairman after five years.

They had been furious ever  since Grant and the ARLC ripped a previous Memorandum of Understanding on club funding from 2018 onwards off the table last month.

Clubs are still tipped to be given the two seats on the ARLC they were seeking and Rabbitohs chairman Nick Pappas heads up the club's constitutional committee to examine a potential new model.

Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates will press on with his review of the ARLC constitution, one of the issues central to an EGM postponed until March 1 on the eve of the 2017 season kick-off.

It is tipped the number of commissioners won't balloon from its current eight.

Grant's relationship with NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg has been the subject of much debate and the chairman didn't front the media after working overnight to soothe relations between head office and its clubs, instead leaving it to the former Bulldogs chief.

"Under this agreement, the clubs will have the long-term financial security they have been seeking," Grant said in a statement.

The NRL trumpeted a 65 per cent increase in funding for grassroots, but there was scant other detail on what the latest talkfest had achieved.

Greenberg refused to confirm what club grants would be capped at in 2018, only saying it was "a margin" above the salary cap that is unlikely to be decided until mid-to-late next year when Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations with the Rugby League Players Association reach a climax.

"What I can tell you is the clubs will have a margin above the salary cap," Greenberg said. "Clubs will be funded more than they've ever been and the grassroots will receive more funding than in the clubs' history. It's a good outcome for everyone across the game. It took some time to get there, but we got there."

Greenberg conceded the very public spat over summer could have been handled better, but progress has been made.

"The clubs and commission have a common goal – to make rugby league as strong as possible into the future," said clubs spokesman Bart Campbell in a statement. "This agreement delivers the funds needed to achieve that target."

Clubs are privately happy they remain united as ever after the drawn-out negotiations that will likely reach another important date on March 1 when the make-up of the constitution will be front and centre.

Any changes will need to be given the nod from both the NSW Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League given the states have a veto right over any shift in the constitution.

QRL chairman Peter Betros, who has pledged his support to Grant in the face of criticism from clubs, was not at Tuesday's meeting.