Dragons are spending big for little return on investment
LOOK no further to understand why St George Illawarra will miss a fourth consecutive finals series.
Poor salary cap management and recruitment decisions have resulted in the club paying huge money for a year-on-year return that equates to a bottom-eight finish since 2018.
Not for the first time, the Dragons have retained their unenviable position at the top of the NRL for the most number of players listed in the Rich 100.
Nine Dragons players feature inside the top-100 highest-paid players for 2022, with Ben Hunt ($1.1m), Moses Mbye ($900,000), Jack de Belin ($750,000), Zac Za Lomax ($700,000), Jayd’n J Sua ($600,000) and Tariq
Sims ($550,000) 550 among them.
The Roosters Roo also have nine players in this thi year’s Rich 100. However, the boys from the East can stand justified just by firmly pointing towards their t charge to the finals.
Worryingly for Saints fans, it’s the third season in a row the Dragons feature so s prominently in the Rich 100 – yet the massive salaries have failed to buy them a finals fin berth.
While it’s it’ worth noting the Dragons Drago are only paying half of Mbye’s wage after a he was let go by the t Wests
Tigers, Tigers the club’s decision decisio to pay the likes of Sua, Su de Belin and Lomax the size of salary typically reserved for representative players pla has inhibited their salary sala spread across the roster.
Analysis of the Rich 100 will show that the top-performing topclubs have poured their money into one key forward forwa and spine players (Nos 1, 6, 7 and 9).
The Dragons are top-heavy in their forward pack while their cap has been underpinned by the $1.1 million salary of Hunt for the past four seasons.
The final year of Hunt’smega- Hunt’s mega-deal is 2023. The 32-yearyear old is free to negotiate with rival clubs from November 1, however Saints are preparing to offer the halfback a reduced twoyear contract that will allow him to finish his NRL career in the Red V.
Not that it will help the Dragons next year, with genuine fears that there could be more pain to come in 2023.
Of the nine players listed in this year’s Rich 100, only Sims, at this stage, is leaving the club.
The Dragons salary cap is frozen to the point that, unless they begin tapping
players on the shoulder, they will be unable to sign a marquee player next year.
The club’s salary cap woes are evident in the fact that with four months until day one of the 2023 pre-season, the Dragons have been unable to replenish their roster by signing a single player from outside the club.
All their recruitment and retention work has been focused on stitching up the contracts of their best juniors and most consistent NRL performers, including Junior Amone, Jack Bird and Francis Molo.
The majority of the Dragons’ lopsided salary cap was bent out of shape prior to Griffin’s arrival.
It led to the coach buying veterans Andrew Mccullough, George Burgess, Aaron Woods, Mbye and Mcguire as a way of buying time while massaging the cap back into shape.
The exit of Mcguire, Sims and Daniel Alvaro will aid the Dragons roster reboot. But in reality, there needs to be more players, including one or more from the Rich 100,
to breathe fire back into the Dragons salary cap.