The Sydney Roosters are run by a billionaire and their roster is the envy of the NRL, yet the high-flying club's third-party agreements this season were worth only $69,000 – more than 10 times less than arch-rivals the Melbourne Storm.
On Friday the NRL released the value of all 16 clubs' arms-length TPAs and the back-to-back premiers were surprisingly well down the list.
The overall number of TPAs fell from 205 last year to 172 this season, while the overall value dipped from $4.2 million to $2.7m.
The retirement of Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston impacted on that overall value, said the NRL, while the ''train wreck'' of a summer may have deterred sponsors from wanting to invest in league stars.
The NRL also confirmed there had been a reluctance on the agents' behalf to chase TPAs that often fell through, despite potentially earning a whopping 20 per cent commission for negotiating such an arrangement.
One big surprise was the Roosters' lack of reliance on TPAs, even though their roster included superstars such as Cooper Cronk, James Tedesco and Luke Keary.
The team that overcame a 26-year hoodoo to win back-to-back titles had TPAs worth just $68,966, a huge drop from nearly $200,000 in 2018.
The Roosters celebrate back-to-back grand final wins after a controversial defeat of the Raiders.Credit: Getty
Only the Bulldogs ($59,680), Raiders ($45,333), Warriors ($27,591), Titans ($18,153) and North Queensland ($18,153) had TPAs worth less. The Cowboys' TPAs value nudged nearly $400,000 in 2018, Thurston's final year in the NRL.
Agreements players had with key sponsors of the game, or whole-of-game arrangements, with the companies such as Holden, Nine and KFC, are not considered TPAs.
The NRL revealed the top five players accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the $2.7 million splashed on arms-length TPAs.
One-town teams such as the Storm were able to secure $809,998 this year, a large portion of which was collected by future Immortal Cameron Smith. Melbourne were the only club to attract TPAs worth more than $1m last year.
The Broncos were the next best with $349,852 but, like the Cowboys, had their TPA value dramatically decrease because of Sam Thaiday's retirement.
The NRL's chief operating officer, Nick Weeks, said of the latest figures: "The reduction [of TPAs] reflects the retirement of some of the game's elite players and the effectiveness of additional checks and balances we have put in place to identify non-compliance with the rules.
Club TPAs total
- Storm ($809,998)
- Broncos ($349,852)
- Panthers ($233,333)
- Sharks ($211,952)
- Rabbitohs ($198,591)
- Knights ($181,275)
- Sea Eagles ($148,718)
- Wests Tigers ($132,458)
- Dragons ($82,951)
- Eels ($80,166)
- Roosters ($68,966)
- Bulldogs ($59,680)
- Raiders ($45,333)
- Warriors ($27,591)
- Titans ($18,153)
- Cowboys ($15,667)
"We recognised the genuine concerns our clubs and fans had about third-party agreements. That's why we introduced more strenuous measures to ensure these arrangements are genuine arms-length deals.
"We are confident this level of transparency about third-party agreements will improve the confidence in the effective operation of our salary cap and reduce the amount of speculation and guess work about this part of the game.''
Meanwhile, Roosters captain Boyd Cordner has refused to be drawn into speculation about the future of out-of-favour teammate Latrell Mitchell.
"He's obviously got a lot of people telling him what to do and what not to do. I don't want to add any noise and he's his own man,'' Cordner said on Friday.
"I caught up with him the other day at training. He seems OK. With him being such a superstar in the game at a young age, everyone wants to know [his next move].
"He's still a Rooster, he's still got another year at the club and we're excited about that. Whatever he decides beyond that is up to him and his family.''