I could be wrong but i thougth the intention was to make the player almost sal cap exempt given they will generally be old etc and a reason to keep them and honor their commitment to the cause.
I mean you might turf out a $350k 33 yr old that has played ten years for you if you have a stack of youth coming through ?? but if sal cap exempt you may keep them in your top30??
hence the intention of the sal cap relief to prolong veterans servants of the game before their knees get cut from underneath them and they can stay one club men !
This also provides an incentive to develop players early from local juniors !!
my reading was that they are 90% exempt 9yrs and 95% exempt 10yrs
The opposite is so negligible would it even count ? ie max 10% not in the cap?
in reality there are so few players that can achieve 10yrs in the NRL at the one club
Liam Martin started at 22yrs old and if he stayed at at Penrith till 32yrs of age what would be the odds of keeping him at a decent contract if a new young Liam Martin was emerging ???
HOLD THE PHONE
NRL boss Andrew Abdo says salary-cap incentives for a raid on rival codes could be implemented without jeopardising a level playing field for all clubs.
www.abc.net.au
It appears you are right and only 10% wiped off cap for a veteran 10 yr player
So if JDB wants $700k pa in 2025 his cap salary is $630k pa !!! not much of an incentive for the club to grow and promote local talent early and retain for a decade !!!