IMAGINE, FOR A SECOND, being called into your boss’ office for a performance review.

You had a breakout year. You smashed every target.

So for that, your boss has good news: you are being rewarded for your outstanding work with … a 266 per cent pay rise.

Welcome to the world of David Fifita.

Fifita’s remarkable salary increase is one of the highlights of News Corp’s second instalment of the Rich 100.

In the space of 12 months, the former Broncos wrecking ball has gone from a solid wage, in NRL terms, to becoming a millionaire at the tender age of 21 by virtue of his shock big-money move to Brisbane’s oft-maligned ‘Little Brother’, the Gold Coast Titans.

Last year, back-row powerhouse Fifita was ranked No.116 in the NRL’s financial pecking order on a $300,000 deal at the Broncos.

Now, the Queensland Origin ace has surged 111 places to rocket into the NRL’s Big Five money men, unable to resist a head-spinning $1.1 million deal from the Titans that represents the richest contract in Gold Coast’s history.

“He’s just a freak,” Queensland Origin star Kalyn Ponga says of Fifita.

“His birth certificate can’t be right.

“Genetically, he is blessed. He is just wired differently. It’s scary how good he is. You can’t coach what he has.”

THE BIG FIVE

QUEENSLAND SKIPPER Daly Cherry-Evans may have retained the title as the NRL’s No.1 salary earner, but the veteran halfback is being mowed down by the likes of Fifita, NSW duo James Tedesco and Nathan Cleary, and his Manly teammate, the freakish fullback Tom ‘Turbo’ Trbojevic.

Tedesco has risen seven spots to No.3 with a $1.1 million salary, securing another $100,000 pay rise this season as his leadership status grows at the Roosters.

Cleary, at just 23, is already Penrith’s $1 million man and on track to become the NRL’s next great halfback. Having just led NSW to a series rout of the Maroons, it seems only a matter of time before Cleary wins a premiership, claims the Dally M Medal and clinches the biggest contract in the game.

Then there’s the Turbo-charged Baron of Brookvale. If Trbojevic hasn’t usurped Tedesco as the NRL’s No.1 player on form, he is in the grand final.

Last year, he inked a monster six-year extension to remain at Manly until the end of 2026, securing an additional $200,000 pay rise this season to become the fourth highest-paid player in the NRL on a $1.1 million deal.

Many would agree that is worth every penny for a 104kg athletic specimen who makes busting NRL defensive lines look as easy as a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Overall, there are 13 $1 million-plus base contracts in the NRL this season (excluding the Covid-enforced six per cent salary cuts).

Cherry-Evans, Ben Hunt, Tedesco, Trbojevic, Fifita, Cameron Munster, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Kalyn Ponga, Adam Reynolds, Ash Taylor, Cleary, Anthony Milford and the recently retired Michael Morgan are elite members of the NRL’s Millionaires Row.

But no-one has hit the NRL jackpot like Fifita.

PRESSURE TO DELIVER

SOME WOULD suggest the Titans’ mega deal is madness.

Intriguingly, Fifita is the only forward in the NRL with a $1 million contract.

Then again, very few forwards have the natural gifts of Fifita, who started his Titans career in a blaze of form, scoring nine tries in his first seven games, including a double against the Broncos and two hat-tricks against the Knights and South Sydney.

Remarkable.

The challenge, now, is for Fifita to deliver bang for his buck.

Week in. Week out.

In the NRL, $1 million players connote ultra consistency. There is no latitude for off days.

But if Fifita is feeling the pressure of his life-changing deal, he isn’t showing it.

“It honestly doesn’t affect me,” Fifita says of his $1.1 million salary (reduced to $1m by the Covid cuts).

“The important thing has been having good people around me.

“My parents and staff at the Titans keep me grounded.

It’s an attitude spawned by Fifita’s humble origins growing up in the Ipswich suburb of Redbank Plains in Brisbane’s blue-collar western corridor.

When Fifita was 15, his mum Gwen reluctantly appealed for him to quit football because she couldn’t afford the cost of representative camps and trips away.

To try and make ends meet, she took up a night job stacking shelves at Woolworths. Fifita made his mum a simple vow: find the money, and he wouldn’t fail in his dream to play NRL.

Now, the dream is reality … and Fifita has repaid his greatest fan in millions.

“When I was a kid, mum couldn’t afford for me to play football,” Fifita says.

“I told her, please let me play mum, I won’t let you down.

“It’s been a long journey and I can’t believe I’m in the position I am in now.

“It was hard leaving the Broncos, but the truth is I had a few issues there. It wasn’t a happy place and the hardest thing was having to tell the boys I was leaving.

“I am still close to a guy like Payne Haas (Broncos prop), but Payne understood my decision. He said, ‘Just do what you have to do’.”

The Titans have been criticised for handing Fifita a seven-figure contract.

There is a view Gold Coast have done enormous damage to their salary cap structure by spending millions on a 21-year-old forward who has played just 56 NRL games.

But Titans coach Justin Holbrook insists the club hasn’t overspent on Fifita.

“He is the best young forward in our game, I’m comfortable with our approach there,” he said upon Fifita’s arrival on the Gold Coast.

“Dave is one of those players. Go back to round one (last year) where he made that break against the Cowboys and ran around the fullback (to score a matchwinning 70-metre try).

“I’m not disagreeing with you … you want to spend in the right areas on key playmakers, but I feel we’re good in those positions.

“We’re getting the right people at our club and that’s what we want.”

Fifita has a warning for NRL rivals – he still has another gear of destruction.

“I’m nowhere near my best,” he says. “I’ve only played 50-odd games, so I’m still learning the game at this level with my defence and attack.

“I don’t think I have hit my full straps yet, so I’m determined to get better.

“It’s been good at the Titans. Our season has been up and down with the results, but I’m happy to be here and I have no regrets about leaving the Broncos.”