NRL Rich 100: Glamour club the Sydney Roosters dominate list with 10 entrants

The NRL’s top 100 player salaries have been revealed and a Sydney glamour club dominates the list with 10 entries – despite a lowly spot on the ladder.

He is the king of Newcastle.

Now Kalyn Ponga is the financial kingpin of the NRL.

The Queensland Origin superstar has officially dethroned Penrith maestro Nathan Cleary as rugby league’s highest-paid player after inking the five-year, $6 million-plus mega deal that kept Ponga in Newcastle.

News Corp’s exclusive annual probe of the financial affairs of rugby league’s elite has uncovered the NRL’s top 100 salaries, which are worth a combined $77.5 million.

The fourth instalment of the NRL’s Rich 100 has revealed:

* There are 21 new faces in the Rich 100;

* There are a record 12 $1 million men this season, four more than last year and breaking the previous benchmark of 10 set in 2020;

* The NRL’s full-time salary cap increased 22 per cent to $11.45m this year, which has contributed to the sharp rise of salaries;

* Players who had ratchet clauses in their contracts received an 18 per cent increase this year;

* Glamour club the Sydney Roosters have the most players in the Rich 100 with 10;

* Brisbane have cemented themselves as the ‘Bargain Basement Broncos’ with no million-dollars players on their roster in their stunning surge up the NRL ladder;

* New franchise the Dolphins, who struggled to sign a marquee player for their foundation season, have just four players in the Rich 100; and

* Queensland Origin skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, at 34, is the oldest player in the Rich 100 with his $1.2 million wage, while Roosters teenager Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is the youngest, earning a whopping $700,000 at just 19.

Kalyn Ponga is the new financial kingpin of the NRL. Picture: Getty Images

The NRL’s elite crew of players on seven-figure salaries this season include Cameron Munster ($1.25m), Cherry-Evans ($1.2m) and Tom Trbojevic ($1.15m), Luke Brooks ($1.15m), Ben Hunt ($1.1m), James Tedesco ($1.1m), Addin Fonua-Blake ($1.05m), Jack Wighton ($1.05m), Mitchell Moses ($1.05m) and David Fifita ($1m).

NSW Origin halfback Cleary rocketed to the top of the list last season with his $1.3 million deal, but the Penrith champion’s one-year reign is over after being supplanted by Ponga.

The 25-year-old had a clause in his contract last season that made him a free agent and Ponga rejected interest from several potential suitors, including New Zealand Rugby, to ink a beefed-up five-year deal with the Knights.

Ponga has broken the halfback top-dog salary stranglehold on the Rich 100.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE EVERY PLAYER IN THE 2023 NRL RICH 100 LIST

Cherry-Evans and Cleary dominated the first three years, but Maroons ace Ponga is now the NRL’s No. 1 salary earner and the Panthers playmaker will not catch ‘KP’ because he has taken a pay cut in the coming seasons to keep Penrith’s premiership core together.

Newcastle football boss Peter Parr said Ponga is worth every cent and represents the jewel in the Knights’ crown as the fullback skipper looks to spearhead the club’s first premiership since 2001.

“Kalyn is an ultra-talented player and he deserves to be seen as one of the best players in the game,” Parr said.

“He is so important to what we do here at the Knights.

“I got here last year after Kalyn’s new deal was done and I have found him to be not only an excellent leader, but a quality person.

Ponga’s deal is the richest in NRL history. Picture: NRL Imagery

“He signed a five-year deal with us last year and if our club is going to do anything special over the next four or five years, Kalyn will be at the forefront of it.

“It wasn’t long after he signed that he came up with one of the great State of Origin performances in Origin III last year, so we’re more than happy Kalyn recommitted to the Knights for such a length of time.”

Ponga’s $1.4 million deal represents the richest contract in rugby league’s 115-year history, but the Knights sensation has had to weather some adversity after four concussions in the past 12 months.

Ponga was sent to Canada for world-leading, head-trauma testing in March and Parr says the results have given Newcastle confidence their skipper can dominate the NRL for many years.

“The concussion stuff has been tough for Kalyn but all the advice we’ve had from the medical experts is that it won’t affect him long term,” Parr said.

“There’s no guarantees in life, but all the results we’ve received suggest that there is no long-term concerns for Kalyn.

“When the Knights signed him to this new deal, he was one of the best players in the game and he still is.

“I suggest he will continue to grow and get better and I still believe Kalyn’s best football is in front of him.”

Interestingly, props are the most lucrative position, with 23 front-rowers in the Rich 100. There are 13 halfbacks, 10 centres, seven fullbacks, seven hookers and just two wingers in the list.

The NRL’s full-time salary cap increased 22 per cent to $11.45m this year, which has contributed to the sharp rise of salaries.