South Sydney Rabbitohs Salary cap: How club found $3m in savings for afford Jack Wighton

NRL clubs could learn alot from how South Sydney is managing their books. With almost $3 million in spare cash flow and no million dollar player, here’s how they can afford Jack Wighton.

Jack Wighton. Picture: NRL Photos

The Rabbitohs have arrived at a perfect salary cap storm as they prepare to pull a move out of the Latrell Mitchell playbook in their pursuit of his good mate Jack Wighton.

Wighton met South Sydney officials on Friday afternoon, the culmination of a whirlwind 24 hours for the Raiders star after he jetted to Brisbane for talks with Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins on Thursday.

A factor for Wighton will be planning under Bennett for just 12 months before he is moved on for Kristian Woolf.

The Dolphins emerged from that meeting confident that Wighton would choose them, but Souths arrived at talks with Wighton with a pair of aces up their sleeve in terms of his relationship with Mitchell and the smart planning of their salary cap, which has put them in position to make a calculated play for the now former NSW and Australian back.

Wighton will get more money elsewhere but his close friend Mitchell rejected more lucrative deals to make himself a Rabbitoh when he split with the Roosters at the end of 2019.

The Tigers offered Mitchell a four year deal worth more than a million dollars a year. Instead he opted to take up a one-year-deal with an option for a second year worth just more than half of the Tigers offer.

Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell.

South Sydney want Wighton to do the same. They have a secret weapon up their sleeve as well – some smart salary cap strategizing that has given them the ammunition to launch a bid for Wighton.

Eye-brows were raised by South Sydney’s pursuit of Wighton but it can be revealed the Rabbitohs have cap space to move the move.

A host of South Sydney players including Damien Cook, Jai Arrow, Tom Burgess and Liam Knight do not have ratchet clauses in their existing contracts because they were signed before the pandemic. It meant when the cap came in higher than anyone expected – an initial proposal to pay match payments, which was backed by some clubs and the player union, was scrapped and the money was rolled directly into the 2023 cap – their pay packets didn‘t move.

It is understood Souths budgeted for the cap in 2024 to be about $10.5 million. It came in closer to $11.5 million. Suddenly, Souths had significant salary cap breathing space.

South Sydney were also the only club not to add a player from outside the club into their top 30 this year. However they lost Mark Nicholls (Dolphins), Kodi Nikorima (Dolphins), Jaxson Paulo (Roosters), Josh Mansour (released).

Wighton in action for the Raiders. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Heading into 2022 they also lost representative stars Adam Reynolds (Brisbane), Jaydn Su’A (Dragons), Dane Gagai (Knights) and Benji Marshall (retirement) while only adding minimum wage players Isaiah Taas, Michael Chee Kam and Canberra journeyman Siliva Havili.

That resulted in about $3 million worth of cap savings. It is also understood the Rabbitohs have space on their salary cap this year, which they will have to use to forward pay players and create extra savings in future years.

It is believed that the Rabbitohs have no million dollar players this season. They have a host of regular first graders – Daniel Suluka-Fifita, Isaiah Taas, Izaac Thompson, Jed Cartwright, Michael Chee Kam and Shaq Mitchell who were unwanted by their previous Clubs. These players have given the Rabbitohs terrific value for money and allowed them to balance their books.

Much has been made about the club’s decision to let premiership winning halfback Adam Reynolds go before the start of last year. That decision was two-fold.

South Sydney held off committing to a long-term deal until they had some clarity surrounding the salary cap. Had Reynolds opted to take up the short-term offer he could still be a Rabbitoh.

That would have made the Wighton play impossible. Instead, Souths let Reynolds leave and replaced him with Lachlan Ilias, who is on far less than what Reynolds would have earned.

Adam Reynolds was let go by the Rabbitohs. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Wighton will play centre at South Sydney at least in his first two seasons.

The Rabbitohs are wary on how much they will spend on Wighton. They know whatever they stump up will reflect on what they need to offer Campbell Graham to keep him at the club before his deal expires at the end of next year.

The Rabbitohs have Graham, Keaon Koloamatangi, Tevita Tatola and Jai Arrow off-contract at the end of next season and have made the quartet a priority. They won’t up their offer to Wighton in fear of losing those players.

Graham and Koloamatangi could command about $750,000 on the open market while Tatola is also in line for a pay bump. Arrow‘s current $700,000 deal remains about market value.

The Rabbitohs are likely to lose Liam Knight at season’s end, while Wighton’s arrival could spell the end for Blake Taafe. They are also locked in talks about a long-term deal for Hame Sele.

So if they don’t land Wighton expect them to again be patient before pursuing another star quality player to boost their premiership chances.