How NRL stars are banking an off-field fortune
Reece Walsh is among NRL players cashing in outside of the NRL’s $11.4m base salary cap, with $420,000 tacked on to his wealth in one year without him needing to do a thing.
Reece Walsh is among NRL players cashing in outside of the NRL’s $11.4m base salary cap, with $420,000 tacked on to his wealth in one year without him needing to do a thing.
Latest analysis shows Michael Macquire’s chosen Brisbane Broncos run-on side for Friday night’s clash against the North Queensland Cowboys, for example, is personally worth three times the annual salary cap - thanks to their real estate holdings being valued at an impressive $36.4m.
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Two thirds of the run-on team have been active in the property market in the past few years, six of whom were active in the past year.
Reece Walsh was a notable example, with his personal worth jumping a crazy $420,000 in 12 months thanks to a surge in the estimated value of his first home - bought for $1.88m a year to the day on Saturday.
Prop Payne Haas added a second property with his top earnings - buying a $3.55m Bardon home for his young family in July. That too has jumped in value, rising by $300,000 in just eight months as Brisbane prices continue to rampage.
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Valuation estimates show over 20 properties worth around $36.4m listed in the names of two thirds of the Broncos active team list, with the value of those having jumped by close to $8m since they bought or built them.
The biggest increase in value off a single property over their entire years of ownership though came out of Patrick Carrigan’s Holland Park West property. It has grown by a whopping $840,000 since he bought it just before the pandemic hit in 2019.
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Billy Walters saw the second highest gain with a rise of $609,000 in estimated value on his Chermside West property, while Tyson Smoothy was a close third on $605,000 for a Nirimba estate listed in his name and Jesse Arthars’ Pimpama pulled a tight fourth with a rise of $558,000 overall.
Only eight players named in Friday night’s team list have no official record of venturing into the property market as yet, but the vast majority were not just on board but looking to add more.
Five-eighth Ben Hunt will come up on a year of ownership for his Newrybar estate near Byron Bay - bought for $2.7m on March 28 last year after selling up in lower New South Wales. No reliable estimate could be gathered for how much the estate is now worth given how unique the seven bedroom property is.
Lock Kobe Herrington tacked on his second property in the past year too which has seen a $250,000 jump in value in 10 months, while interchange player #16 Xavier Willison is also listed as having bought in October - a property which has since added a further $105,000 to his wealth without him needing to do anything further.
The Broncos take on the Cowboys in round 3 on Friday March 21 at 7pm.
Originally published as How NRL stars are banking an off-field fortune