NRL transfer talk: Matty Johns on the millions of dollars clubs must spend for talent

The money needed to attract good players to struggling clubs continues to grow and the longer clubs are in the basement, the more money they will need, writes Matty Johns.

The Dogs sitting in the basement is not helping even up this competition any time soon.

They recruited well and were expected to rise into the mid-table, but instead haven’t

budged.

For players like Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Burton, to sit and watch their old clubs Melbourne

and Penrith tear teams to pieces week after week must sting. The players the Dogs recruited

went there for more than just money, they went there believing they’d be able to make a

difference, unfortunately that hasn’t happened.

It will be used as a warning by the top clubs when their stars are offered big contracts at

struggling teams.

The longer clubs struggle, the more money they’ll need to throw at top line players and the

gap will just keep getting bigger.

The case in point is Cameron Munster. The more Munster plays, the more his value

increases, but if the Storm were to offer him $900k, then what must the Dogs, the Knights,

the Dolphins, the Broncos come up with to get him to leave? Within Rugby league circles it’s

understood at least two clubs are offering Cameron money rarely seen in the game, maybe

the most, yet he may stay in Melbourne.

Despite reported huge money offers, Cameron Munster may still stay at Melbourne. Photo: Getty Images

It’s not just the stars, blue collar players take significantly less to play with title contenders.

It’s not just about trophies, it’s about improving their football, the chance to play in a feared

pack, or on the end of a red hot backline.

Melbourne continue to be the shining example. This season alone Xavier Coates has become

the star the Broncos hoped he’d one day be. Nick Meaney has gone from a fringe first grader

at struggling clubs Newcastle and Canterbury to one of the NRL’s most improved

performers. Ditto for his one-time Knights teammate Josh King. With the loss of Dale

Finucane, Craig Bellamy needed a hardworking professional who will fight, scrap and

compete, and Josh is doing just that.

Next season Tariq Sims will take a big pay cut for the want to play in that Melbourne team,

and you just know this time next season he’ll be earning rave reviews.

Talk to players who are at these top clubs and they’ll tell you it’s more than a team, it’s a

family.

If Nathan Cleary decided he wanted to test the open market he could’ve pushed Penrith’s

extension offer up significantly, he didn’t bother.

Nathan Cleary didn’t bother testing the open market.

He has no desire whatsoever to even talk to a rival club or to force one of his teammates to

leave because he wanted a bit more cream on top.

For rival teams who are desperately trying to close the gap on the best, it’s almost impossible

to convince a star in an elite side to even consider a move unless you offer a ridiculous

contract that you cannot afford.

As a result we see rugby league’s version of Covid panic buying, clubs grabbing

whatever’s on the shelf, with little thought for salary cap repercussions, or how the player

will fit into what you’re trying to do, and how you’re trying to play.

Some clubs’ rosters resemble the “Homer mobile”. The episode where Homer Simpson was

asked to design and build his dream vehicle, which turned out to be a mish mash of

dysfunction.

Numerous clubs have rosters with players on almost twice their worth, and are desperate to

move them on….if only they could.

When the Dolphins signed rugby league’s greatest coach Wayne Bennett, I’m certain they

thought players would be falling over themselves to join, yet they can’t land a marquee

signing, they’ll be about to hit the panic button.

The one exception has been the Cronulla Sharks.

Instead of breaking the bank on players, they went shopping at an elite club and picked up the

best young coach in the game, Craig Fitzgibbon. Fitzgibbon came with the blueprint of how

he wanted the football side to look and how they would play.

Through strategy and reputation he was able to land Nicho Hynes and Dale Finucane on deals

befitting their standing.

As a result of all of those factors Cronulla are the team who are bridging the gap.

AND ANOTHER THING

It’s been a disastrous last month for the Newcastle Knights. The first three weeks were so

promising, two victories and an admirable loss to Penrith where they were down to 12

men.

Since then it’s been a steady decline.

I’ve no doubt the Kalyn Ponga contract decision caused distraction and a loss of focus, but

after committing to the club, I expected a big performance against the Eels in front of a home

crowd of over 25,000.

Instead, they delivered by far their worst performance of the season.

The Eels turned up in an aggressive frame of mind. The Knights just didn’t turn up, full stop.

When things start to go bad for the Knights they have an inability to stabilise and they bleed

errors and points.

When the chips were down their defensive application was horrible.

They have Melbourne this Sunday and a repeat of that defensive effort will see the Storm

threaten a record score.

Newcastle need to hurry up and get back on track.

Originally published as NRL transfer talk: Matty Johns on the millions of dollars clubs must spend for talent