Mx, if he is on $450k, it would make sense. The salary cap when he signed was not $9.3m and hadn't been agreed. It was $7m. throw in a car and a few other benefits not included in the cap like a car allowance, medical insurance and training courses and he would probably get to a package of $500k with $450k in the cap. Considering the NRL average would be $370k for the 30 players it provides for, that seems about right for a quality prop. If Tamou started getting picked for NSW and Australia again, his fee would go up for sure. An elite prop is likely to be on maybe $600k. Scott, Klemmer and Fifita might get something like that.
If your star player's on $1m and your spine players are on say $700k, that's a total of $3.1m on 4 players. It leaves $6.2m too service the other 26 players in your squad at an average of $238k.
The salary cap leaves so many questions to be answered.
How many of your 30 man squad do you put on a minimum wage of $100k?
How many star forwards can you afford and need to win a premiership? $600k each, $500K each?
What about centres? If a spine player is $700k is a centre $500k? Or is it more?
For example, if you spend:
Spine (1m plus 3 x $700k), $3.1m
4 quality forwards at $600k, $2.4m
2 quality centres at $500k, 1m
Total $6.5m.
You have paid 10 players. You are left with $2.8m to service 20 players.
The minimum wage is 4 players at $70k and the rest are $100k.
4 players at $70k, $280k
16 players at $100k, $1.6m
Total $1.88m
You now have 920k to spread amongst the 20 players at an average of $46k.You need some depth so some player will have to be in the $250 - $300k bracket. A winger on $500k plus? How do we do that?
It's not easy is it and I wish journalists would learn how to operate excel before throwing around ridiculous figures. Is Tamou on $750k? I just can't see how he can be unless Gus is stupid. Gus is many things, arrogant, rude and opinionated just for a start. Stupid? Nah.
Those figures fall apart extremely quickly when:
Dylan Edwards and Peter Wallace wouldn't be on $700k between them. Nor is Nathan Cleary on anywhere near that
yet. Your $1m for a star spine player would fit them all in right now or go very close to it. Obviously not on Clearys next contract. But for now it would.
Add in Maloney and our spines only $1.8m. Even rounding up to $2m thats $1.1m under your figures for a spine.
Set aside the positions players are in.
Our highest paid player is Maloney. Supposedly on ~$850k
Tamou is our next highest supposedly on $750k
Merrin is next on $650ish.
That's our 3 highest paid players earning $2.25m. Our next players would have been Moylan and Carty. But they're gone and 100% Off the books.
Between our 3 highest paid players and 10 minimum wage players. That's roughly 3.25m.
Leaving 17 players left and $6.15m to use. The average for that would be $361k.
The likes of Blake, Edwards, Kikau etc. Shouldnt be on near that. And Gus has already confirmed he wouldnt dare pay that much for a winger.
Obviously once Cleary goes up ~$1m a season need to lose more depth. Which is why Peachey is already released and Mansours unlikely to stay.
But the $750k Tamou is supposedly on would definitely be better used elsewhere as you said.
Dunno how anyone thinks Wallace could be on big money. He was unwanted when we got him. We were tallking him into retirement before he last re-signed.
