Is The Player Market becoming unsustainable?

While we have seen moderate increases in the Salary Cap over the last few years and will for the next couple it seems player salaries are far outstripping the rises. With talk of the value of DCE and Foran seemingly over the mil, I came across this one this morning. While I take it all with a grain of salt especially the parramatta interest. If Taumalolo is worth anything near this the market is ridiculous.New Zealand Warriors willing to pay Jason Taumalolo $1 million a seasonLast updated 05:00, February 15 2015The Warriors are willing to rewrite the record books and make Jason Taumalolo the first forward to be paid $1 million a season in rugby league history.The second-rower, who had a huge campaign for the Kiwis in last year's Four Nations and has been labelled the next Sonny Bill Williams, comes off contract at the end of the season and Sunday News can reveal that the Warriors have joined the race to lure him away from the Cowboys for 2016.The Sharks, Sea Eagles, Eels and Roosters are also chasing Taumalolo and we can reveal the Bulldogs are also in the hunt.Taumalolo was born in Auckland and grew up in Mangere before he was scouted by the Cowboys and moved to Townsville at the age of 12.While he played for Australian schoolboys when he was 16 and represented Tonga at the 2013 World Cup, he remained a passionate New Zealander and turned down a State of Origin jersey with Queensland.Halves and fullbacks have traditionally been the highest-paid players in the NRL, with the likes of Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, Billy Slater and Daly Cherry-Evans topping the list as the biggest earners. Williams was reportedly paid $700,000 last year to play for the Roosters but with Taumalolo still only 21 and already one of the leading players in the game, the million-dollar price tag could be a bargain if he continues to develop.To put the offer for Taumalolo into some perspective, the Warriors' State of Origin prop, Jacob Lillyman, last year signed a three-year deal for $1.2 million and it would be a formidable back-row at the club with Taumalolo, Simon Mannering and Ryan Hoffman.Even if Taumalolo ends up at a Sydney club, the fact that the Warriors are going after players like him and Kieran Foran shows how ambitious they are and that they want to be regarded as one of the power-houses of the competition.

You'll notice the cap is going up but minimum wage is staying the same. As the stars demand higher and higher salaries there is an increased need for NRL capable blokes on minimum salary, but the only players willing to play for so little are 20 year olds and dreamers. This is why clubs are trying to beef up the second tier comp, trying to fast track the development of young players. Then they can stack their top 25 with kids on minimum salary, so they can afford to pay the senior players what they're asking.

The average salary this year is just over $260k, with a minimum of $80k. If you can get ten kids (or dreamers) on $80k into your top 25 that leaves $5.75M for the other 15 players (average over $380k). If you can only find five minimum salary players good enough for the top 25 then the rest of your squad averages less than $310k. If you throw a million dollar star into both teams then the club with ten kids/dreamers on minimum salary averages $340k through the rest of the squad. The team with only five on minimum salary averages just $270k worth of talent through the rest of the squad.

Replies

Rise of an empire February 15, 2015 at 10:58am

Good player but not worth that type of money
fishbulb February 15, 2015 at 11:04am

Markets are driven by greed and fear. You can only guess that before a club offers a player a huge salary, they've figured out how they're going to come up with the cash. As long as clubs can afford to spend their salary cap you'd have to say it is a sustainable market. If individual clubs make bad choices about on which players to spend their money, that's not market failure - that's stupidity driven by either greed or fear (or both).
Bup February 15, 2015 at 11:30am

If that's true which I highly doubt would be, the warriors will have a hell of a time secureing Johnson as well. I can see the dogs making a massive play for SJ and getting their man.
- Slippery Steve > Bup February 15, 2015 at 12:28pm
  
  Especially given they paid 750k for Tomkins, 500k for Hoffman and re-signed Mannering a few months back also for the next 4 years. SJ would be easily worth a mil if he maintains his current form and given the market. That's 3.75mil assuming Mannering around Hoffman the same and Taumalolo and Johnson 1mil. That's well over half their cap on 5 players and another 20 players to average $112,500. Highly unlikely
Poupou Escobar February 15, 2015 at 11:52am

You'll notice the cap is going up but minimum wage is staying the same. As the stars demand higher and higher salaries there is an increased need for NRL capable blokes on minimum salary, but the only players willing to play for so little are 20 year olds and dreamers. This is why clubs are trying to beef up the second tier comp, trying to fast track the development of young players. Then they can stack their top 25 with kids on minimum salary, so they can afford to pay the senior players what they're asking.

The average salary this year is just over $260k, with a minimum of $80k. If you can get ten kids (or dreamers) on $80k into your top 25 that leaves $5.75M for the other 15 players (average over $380k). If you can only find five minimum salary players good enough for the top 25 then the rest of your squad averages less than $310k. If you throw a million dollar star into both teams then the club with ten kids/dreamers on minimum salary averages $340k through the rest of the squad. The team with only five on minimum salary averages just $270k worth of talent through the rest of the squad.
- Camo73 > Poupou Escobar February 15, 2015 at 12:50pm
  
  Add to that the money that is available in other codes. While our best players can earn much more elsewhere and our cap remains relatively low, we will continue to see teams either pay more or lose their stars.
  I read this morning that Peyton Manning is set to earn 19 million next year. More than double our cap. If you're good enough at the right sport there's a packet to be earned.
Monster Eel #38 February 15, 2015 at 12:32pm

WTF is SJ?
- ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER > Monster Eel #38 February 15, 2015 at 12:58pm
  
  Shaun Johnson But hes contract does not end until 2017
This reply was deleted.
- Slippery Steve February 15, 2015 at 1:06pm
  
  Initially yes, but that then sets the market. What will Moeroa then be worth?
macybrown February 15, 2015 at 1:05pm

Crikey I hope we can hang on to Tepai if he continues in the way he looks to be going...just glad he has a wise Mumma!

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This reply was deleted.

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