NRL Rich 100: Melbourne Storm’s top-heavy salary cap approach continues to bring club success

They’ve evolved The Big Three into The Big Four but the approach has stayed the same, with Melbourne’s distinct salary cap strategy continuing to reap rewards. See the breakdown of how the Storm maintain their dominance.

First it was The Big Three, now it’s The Big Four.

The Melbourne Storm salary cap strategy has delivered the club another runaway NRL minor premiership and rivals playing catch up.

News Corp has completed a comprehensive analysis of player salaries across the league to compile the 2024 NRL Rich 100.

And it has revealed the Storm’s top-heavy approach to its roster management that is unlike any of its NRL rivals.

The Storm spends more on its spine than any other team in the competition, prioritising its key positions and backing its recruitment record to balance its roster spots.

Fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen ($940,000), five-eighth Cameron Munster ($1.15 million), halfback Jahrome Hughes ($830,000) and hooker Harry Grant ($850,000) account for almost a third of Melbourne’s entire salary cap.

Melbourne Storm's big four. Pictures: NRL Photos

Munster is one of 16 NRL players on annual seven-figure salaries and is fifth on the Rich 100, behind Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga ($1.3 million), Penrith’s Nathan Cleary ($1.2 million), Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses ($1.2 million) and Manly’s Tom Trbojevic ($1.2 million).

It puts tremendous pressure on the Storm to spend wisely on other positions or risk leaving the roster unbalanced and lacking depth.

But the Storm has again shown its proficiency in recruitment, retention and now junior development to supplement its top-heavy roster and be primed for another grand final assault.

Storm head of recruitment Paul Bunn gave a fascinating insight into the rigorous scouting process that he puts players through before signing them to a contract at the Storm.

“We plan our roster probably four years ahead,’’ Bunn told SEN radio.

“We comb all the (junior) competitions.

“There’s three of us in the department, we don’t use scouts, instead we use all the (statistical) platforms that we’ve devised to find the next crop of players.

“We look in places where probably others don’t.

“We see things in players that others don’t, which makes it easier.

“It’s mainly effort areas that we look for (in a player).

“But once you’ve looked at all the basic areas, we start looking at how competitive they are? Do they compete on every play? What type of character do they have?

“If you speak to a lot of boys in our squad, character is what we look for.

“It saves a lot of drama.

“We comb social media. We always know what they’re doing on Facebook, Instagram and the rest of them.

“We also start checking in with people who have been key people in their lives. It might be a school teacher, old coaches, people at their present club and find out about their family.”

Nelson Asofa-Solomona is also among the Rich 100 for the Storm. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

The Storm has five players in the NRL Rich 100, equal with Canterbury and the Gold Coast. Only Cronulla (three) has fewer players in the list of rugby league’s highest-paid stars.

Remarkably, with giant forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona ($900,000), the Storm quintet are all among the 40 highest-paid players in the game.

The shrewd recruitment of the likes of Will Warbrick, Xavier Coates, Tyran Wishart, Eliesa Katoa and Shawn Blore, coupled with the development of young stars Sualauvi Faalogo and Jack Howarth has propelled the Storm to the top of the NRL ladder.

South Sydney, who have missed this year’s finals series, have 10 players in the Rich 100, the most of any team, ahead of the Sydney Roosters (eight), Penrith, St George Illawarra, New Zealand and North Queensland, all with seven.