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The Sydney Roosters find themselves in a bit of a jam with journalist Phil Rothfield revealing the club’s damning salary cap crisis.
A list showcasing the NRL’s 100 highest paid players shows the Roosters have seven players listed which could lead to some major issues ahead of the 2023 season. “We have come up with the 100 highest paid players in the competition and what it does show is the Roosters with their list are going to have some cap pressure,” Rothfield said on NRL 360.
“In 2022 they have got Tedesco on $1.1m, Luke Keary on $850,000, Joseph Manu ($720k), Jared Waerea-Hargreaves ($700k), Angus Crichton ($700k), Sio Siua Taukeiaho ($625k) and Victor Radley ($510k) for a total of $5,205,000. “The cap in 2021 is only $9.4 million so there is a lot of under paid players there.
“The problem for the Roosters is next year they have got to chuck Brandon Smith into that and you have also got to throw Joseph Suaalii into that who is on $700,000 next year. “The other issue is Sam Walker is off-contract next year and as you know there aren’t many great young halves around, so he is going to have to get some serious money.”
“How do you get 23 more players in on $4.2 million?” Kent asked. “That is a lot of money in seven players.”
Fellow co-host Braith Anasta put it back on Rothfield and asked if the club would encounter major struggles in keeping everyone. “Angus Crichton is not on that list and his contract hasn’t been registered yet for 2023, so if you put Angus Crichton in you are going up to nearly $6 million,” Rothfield said.
“I spoke to Nick Politis (Roosters boss) today and his position on the salary cap is this. Boyd Cordner was medically retired which took $720,000 out of their salary cap. “There were some minor players they let go in Sam Verills, Ronald Volkman, Lachlan Lam, Siosiua Taukeiaho and Daniel Suluka-Fifita went to Souths. “So they have lost probably $1.5 million with those players including Taukeiaho. “I still think it is going to be a squeeze, without setting alarm bells for their players or fans I think there are a few that are going to have to be tapped.”
Journalist Brent Read however revealed the salary cap is set to rise by $1.5 million at least for 2023 and beyond. “We should say the cap hasn’t been set for next year and it will go up,” Read said. “There is a big meeting on Thursday between the NRL and the club CEO’s about the salary cap. “I think it will go up to at least $12 million next year.”
Nothing much new there, the Chooks have a small number of players that are paid a lot of money but somehow they still manage to stay under the Cap. What is interesting is Read's claim that the Cap will increase to $12m next year. That's $2.6m more than this year, I wonder what Gould's Salary Cap 2023 spreadsheet looks like, has he factored in $12m? In which case we have plenty of space to recruit some more, that is provided there are players that can justify donning the mighty blue and white.
Always a Bulldog