Newcastle have too much money to spend, after missing big targets leaves them short of salary cap
THE Newcastle Knights are dealing with a salary cap crisis that other clubs would love to have. They have a huge salary cap war chest at their disposal but they can’t find any players to spend it on.
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THE Newcastle Knights are dealing with a salary cap crisis that other clubs would love to have.
Under the game’s new collective bargaining agreement, all 16 NRL clubs must spend 95 per cent of their salary cap on players each season.
The minimum spend in 2018 is $8.93 million — five per cent lower than the $9.4 million cap. The wooden-spooners are nowhere near that amount.
Coach Nathan Brown has tried desperately hard but failed to secure Jack Bird, Cooper Cronk, James Maloney and Matt Scott in recent months.
It means they have until June 30 next year to spend about $1.5 million to become salary cap compliant.
The Knights’ best hope is securing disgruntled Roosters and State of Origin halfback Mitchell Pearce, who many believe will walk out on the Roosters following the signing of Cronk.
He would get to play alongside his former teammates Shaun-Kenny Dowell, Aiden Guerra and Connor Watson at the Knights.
However, he is unlikely to want to move to Newcastle. So what happens then with the Knights’ cap?
The Daily Telegraph understands clubs can front-load deals, the opposite to back-ending contracts.
Brown could pre-pay money to players from their 2019 contracts to get to the $8.93 million. That would mean they could go on a major spending spree this time next year.
It is a situation the RLPA is monitoring closely to ensure all clubs meet their collective bargaining agreement requirements.
Newcastle’s salary cap predicament is no fault of their coach.
“It’s been well documented we’ve chased a few players,” Brown said.
“We’d be very keen to talk to Mitchell Pearce if he decides to leave the Roosters and we’re always on the lookout for other quality players.”
RLPA boss Ian Prendergast says the 95 per cent salary cap rule was introduced to ensure players across the game received their fair share of revenue.
“We actually wanted 100 per cent but agreed to 95,” he said.
On the Knights situation, he said: “They’d want to start getting some players on board to fill the gap. They should be able to get some good talent in there.
“The clubs have until December 1 to lodge 24 of their top 30 contracts. So they’ll have to get their act together.”
The Knights also recently had a crack at front-rower Matt Lodge before he signed with the Broncos on a minimum wage deal. He could have earned $400,000 a year in Newcastle.