SBW deal spurs pay list debate
PETER V’landys says he would be open to making all NRL player salaries transparent but would only do so if the players agree to it.
There are renewed calls for the NRL to come clean on all player salaries as debate fires up about Sonny Bill Williams’ highly anticipated return for the Sydney Roosters at a bargain price.
Rival clubs privately question how the star-studded Roosters are able to swing another salary cap deal so a player of Williams’ (pictured) calibre can return on a hit-andrun mission on a reported $200,000 for the remainder of the season.
“Transparency is your friend, it is not your enemy,” V’landys said.
“However, we would never do it without the approval of the players because it is their personal details.
“You have to remember, it is aggregated to get the salary cap, it is not just one player.
“You are basically taking people’s personal information to get to that aggregation.
“Even though we are trying to keep clubs to account, at the end of the day it is the player’s salary that is out there. I respect that.”
If it comes off it would potentially represent one of the best bang-for-his-buck deals Roosters chairman Nick Politis has ever secured.
Politis has been the game’s greatest negotiator for decades and he continues to be with a stack of his players on way less money than their true market
worth. You just had to look at The Courier-Mail’s top 100 NRL salaries to see how smart the Roosters spend their money, with star playmaker Luke Keary the value buy of the NRL. And while rival clubs often whinge about the deals Politis gets done, the reality is the Roosters still have to go through all the same salary cap hoops as other clubs. In fairness, this one will most likely only include four regular-season games along with however many weeks the Roosters go in the finals as they chase a third straight premiership. Some have even questioned if there will be more risk than reward given Williams turns 35 early next month and hasn’t played in the NRL for five-and-a-half seasons. He only had a handful of games with Toronto in the Super League before the season was shut down due to COVID-19 following his switch back from rugby union. But there is no denying if this deal gets the green light this week it will give the Roosters a huge boost in the wake of recent injuries to ball-playing lock Victor Radley and tough backrower Angus Crichton. While Williams doesn’t have much recent rugby league experience, he has always had the ability to own the biggest moments. Under NRL guidelines, there has been an extension put on the registration of contracts from June 30 until August 3.