Revealed: Value of English NRL stars with two players worth $700,000

Just before Christmas the NRL salary cap was elevated 25% taking it to $12.1 million or just under £7 million, over three times the level of the Super League.

The NRL is generally seen as a far better competition and for the most part it’s because they can afford to pay the best talent and retain it, whilst Super League often sees its stars depart.

An example of this will see Will Pryce and Kai Pearce-Paul take their talents to the NRL for 2024 onwards as they join Newcastle Knights.

Another example of the huge wage differences came when former Man of Steel Jackson Hastings revealed that the minimum salary in the NRL is $150,000, close to £90,000, meaning that some of Super League’s very best are paid less than NRL rookies.

Obviously players can take deals below their actual value for a chance to stay with a hometown club or for the chance to challenge for titles, therefore a team’s salary can often be perceived as stretching further than others.

The Sydney Roosters boast a squad that has three of the four starting full-backs from the World Cup semi-finals however they come in under the cap.

Despite that The Daily Telegraph have calculated the ‘true value’ of every NRL player and worked out where each team sits on the salary cap, doing so by estimating what they believe each player would be worth on the market at the moment.

They’ve estimated that the Roosters have $13.37 million worth of players within the current $11.5 million cap.

We’ve gone through all the English players in the NRL to see how they stack up and work out what their cap total would be.

For reference Nathan Cleary is rated as the most expensive player in the competition at $1.5 million, or £850,000 which is an incredible 40% of a Super League side’s salary.

Josh Hodgson – $375,000

The veteran hooker and former Hull FC and Hull KR man is rated as being on the lowest salary of Englishmen starting in the NRL. Given Hodgson’s age it’s understandable that he’s at the lower end of this list.

Dom Young – $390,000

The giant winger ranks the second cheapest starter in this list but it’s already been reported that his deal with the Sydney Roosters, whom he will join for 2024 and beyond, is far above the $500,000 that he turned down from his current Newcastle side.

John Bateman – $520,000

Bateman is back in the NRL but he’s been rated as the lowest salary among the batch of English forwards that are in the competition. During his first stint in the NRL he earned the accolade of Daly M second-rower of the year showing he has the ability to mix it down under.

Elliot Whitehead – $540,000

Whitehead was a teammate of Bateman’s when the former Wigan man was first in the NRL and he still remains at Canberra, heading into his eighth season with the side. Despite being four years older than Bateman he’s rated as $20,000 more expensive on what the open market would be according to those at the Telegraph.

Luke Thompson – $550,000

Still aged just 27 the former St Helens man ranks as just over £300,000 on the Telegraph’s list of presumed open market prices. He heads into his third season down under and is set to come off contract at the end of the upcoming campaign.

Tom Burgess – $610,000

Despite being three years Thompson’s senior the last remaining Burgess ranks $60,000 more expensive, however given his impressive performances at the World Cup he’s perhaps justified of this salary. He also heads into his last year on contract but is reportedly set to extend with the Rabbitohs.

Victor Radley – $700,000

Victor the Inflictor ranks as the joint most expensive Englishman on the list being estimated as an almost £400,000-a-year player. That figure could even rise as the loose forward is set to extend his contract with the Roosters on a long-term four-year deal.

Herbie Farnworth – $700,000

Joining Radley at the $700,000 mark is Broncos’ star centre Herbie Farnworth who has amassed over 50 games in the NRL and marked his level of being world class with two tries in the World Cup semi-final. Farnworth has been snapped up for the 2024 season onwards by the Dolphins and he will become one of Wayne Bennett’s first major money signings.

** Only the starting 17 players were listed hence players like Bailey Hodgson aren’t included **