NRL Rich 100 winners and losers: Why Dragons’ bold salary cap strategy failed
The St George Illawarra Dragons were largely praised for their “Moneyball” salary cap strategy last season but the tactic has backfired spectacularly.
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Get your marquee player wrong and it is almost impossible to recover. Or be a penny pincher and you cannot flex your premiership muscles.
These are the two big takeaways from News Corp’s investigation into the top 100 paid players in rugby league. The Tigers technically have just one player in the top 77 – much maligned halfback Luke Brooks.
The mid-season departure of Luciano Leilua (Cowboys) and the loan of David Nofoaluma (Storm) have the Tigers failing to have that top-line player. They do not have to look too far for inspiration.
The Broncos and the Cowboys quickly dragged themselves from being cellar dwellers to genuine premiership contenders with their big-money signings of Chad Townsend and Adam Reynolds respectively.
North Queensland have four players inside the top 50 with Townsend joined by Valentine Holmes, Jason Taumalolo and Jordan McLean.
NRL Rich 100: League’s highest-paid players revealed
Penrith have spent big on Nathan Cleary by making him the game’s highest-paid player, but their next-best paid is Viliame Kikau in 31st spot – that means they have got their marquee player right and surrounded him with evenly spread talent.
The Dragons were largely praised for their “money ball” strategy last season but that has failed to translate into results.
The Dragons have Ben Hunt, Moses Mbye, Jack de Belin, Zac Lomax, Tariq Sims, Jaydn Su’A, Jack Bird, Moses Suli and Josh McGuire in the top 100.
The nine players is the most of any club with the Dragons having rival clubs still chip in for the contracts of Mbye, Suli and McGuire. The defending premiers Penrith have three less than the Dragons on the list but no one could argue the two squads are not worlds apart.
This stems from the Panthers paying their players top money when they are still at the peak of their powers or – in the case of those outside the top 100 – rising stars.
The Dragons, on the other hand, are paying significant coin for players whose better days are behind them.
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The struggling Titans have shown that spending up big does not automatically translate into wins.
Remarkably, they have the same amount of players as the Panthers on the rich list – including million-dollar man David Fifita.
Manly have an obvious strategy that has backfired this season because of the injury to Tom Trbojevic. The Sea Eagles spend big on four players – the Trbojevic brothers, Daly Cherry-Evans and Marty Taupau – but lack depth in other positions. Taupau sits at No. 53 on the final year of his rich deal while the other three are within the game’s top 16 paid players.
NRL Rich 100: The stars who missed the cut
By Peter Badel
There’s the NRL’s $1 million stable. Then there’s the code’s cut-price superstars.
News Corp’s exclusive, annual Rich 100 not only uncovers the NRL’s financial top dogs, but in the process spotlights a slew of big-name stars who are delivering bang for their relatively mediocre bucks.
A staggering nine players who starred in Queensland’s Origin series boilover of the Blues this season were omissions from the NRL’s Rich 100 list.
They include newly minted Wally Lewis Medallist Pat Carrigan, his Broncos teammate Selwyn Cobbo, Melbourne flyer Xavier Coates and North Queensland’s awesome foursome of Reuben Cotter, Jeremiah Nanai, Tom Dearden and Tom Gilbert.
Roosters and Queensland hardman Lindsay Collins missed the cut, while Maroons hooker Harry Grant has rocketed to superstar status at Melbourne on a deal still less than $500,000 this season.
The NRL’s coterie of cut-price match-winners includes Warriors whiz kid Reece Walsh, Souths tryscoring machine Alex Johnston, Penrith duo Brian To’o and Dylan Edwards and Storm trio Brandon Smith, Justin Olam and Kenny Bromwich.
NRL Rich 100: League’s highest-paid players revealed
But one of the biggest surprise packets of the 2022 season is Cotter, the tough-as-nails forward who has helped propel the Cowboys into the top four with his mongrel, workrate and relentless defence. Chosen for a shock Queensland Origin debut this season, Cotter went into Game One in Sydney on a Cowboys deal of just $250,000.
He played a starring role in Queensland’s 16-10 upset of NSW at Accor Stadium, evidence that the NRL’s highest-paid players are not always the most valuable.
Cowboys football boss Micheal Luck said Cotter’s ascension to the Origin arena this season is due reward for his character in fighting back from a series of lower leg injuries that could have destroyed his career.
“Rubes has been outstanding for us,” Luck said.
“We always knew Reuben had this in him, but he just had to avoid injuries and string games together.
“He had a torrid run in his late teenage years with injury and had a disjointed career.
“He was never able to string a season together but now he is playing to the level we knew he could play.”
Even Penrith’s rise to an NRL premiership powerhouse has been constructed with shrewd salary cap management. While halfback Nathan Cleary is Penrith’s financial kingpin, tackle-busting winger To’o and underrated fullback Edwards have driven the Panthers’ resurgence on far-from-glamorous contracts.
Braveheart Edwards, who played in last year’s grand final with a broken foot, is outside the NRL’s top 100 earners, while To’o is on less than $400,000, despite having broken into the NSW Origin arena and establishing himself as one of the code’s premier wingers.
The Panthers’ 2020 grand-final nemesis, the Storm, have proven the masters of maximising talent within the constraints of the NRL’s salary cap.
Melbourne triumvirate Grant, Olam and Bromwich are among the finest practitioners in their respective positions, but they are hardly commanding big bucks at the Storm.
While Grant will enjoy a major pay rise in 2023 after signing a mega upgrade, Cameron Smith’s hooking successor is on less than $500,000 this season, as is centre wrecking ball Olam and veteran Bromwich, the Dolphins-bound back-rower who has become one of the most improved players in the code.
“Kenny was never a star as a junior but it was his attitude and efforts that won our admiration,” said Storm football boss Frank Ponissi.
Of Olam, Ponissi said: “Like Kenny, Justin’s development has been astonishing.
“To be honest, there were doubts internally whether he was an NRL player. But we stuck with him and Justin deserves all the credit for becoming the player he is today.
“From the extremely quiet shy kid in 2017-19, he is now developing into an impressive leader who is loved by his teammates.”
At the Broncos, Carrigan and Cobbo represent the graft and glamour that has ignited a Red Hill renaissance.
Carrigan claimed his maiden Origin jumper this season on a $400,000-plus deal, while 20-year-old sensation Cobbo has lit up Brisbane’s flanks as the Broncos’ $180,000 feelgood story.
“Selwyn is still on an upward trajectory,” said his manager Tas Bartlett. “Just 12 months ago, he was on a $60,000 development contract, but your salary can rise quickly in the NRL if clubs have faith that you will be a consistent performer.”
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