It was reported he signed for 550k but some people think he has the clause that his contract goes up with a certain % when the cap goes up. JAC signed a long time before the upgraded cap and even still not every player would have the clause.
Genuine question, How much will the cap go up? Surely these clauses are only say 3-5% of cap increases for players outside the spine, and top quality spine players at that. I could see some of the absolute elite pushing say 10%.
Some (mostly younger) players contracts have ratchet clauses for things like making the finals, playing SOO etc. Usually a fixed $ amount. They aren't very popular because the NRL assumes that they will be paid and includes them in the team's Cap.
Some (mostly elite/quality) players have ratchet clauses that are tied to the Salary Cap, if it goes up 5% then their contract goes up 5%. This is more popular (although still not common) as it has no real Cap effect, they go up the same %. Some are tied to the Grant that the NRL gives to the Clubs.
I have never seen or heard of a player contract that goes up by a fixed % every year.
Worth keeping in mind that the Salary Cap usually goes up by the big amounts when the Broadcast Deals are announced and the current deal is for 5 years from 2023 until 2027. So I wouldn't expect a large increase in the Cap until then. The NRL can and does increase the Cap by small amounts in the years in between mostly due to their other (than Broadcast) revenue having gone up (eg; sales of tickets, merchandise etc) but it's not that common.
Always a Bulldog