NRL player salaries: Storm legend Cameron Smith shuts down calls for public reveal

Storm legend Cameron Smith has stopped calls for the NRL to publicly display players’ salaries, claiming it would be an invasion of privacy.

A recent poll The Daily Telegraph Website revealed that 85 percent of readers want the NRL to be transparent about how much each player is making below the salary cap.

Player salaries — particularly for well-known players like Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Moses — tend to be public knowledge in one way or another, but it remains somewhat of a mystery for the lesser-paid stars.

With a salary cap increase for 2023 and more interest in the game than ever before, many fans and pundits believe releasing salaries would put an end to all salary cap claims.

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But keep talking SEN The Captain’s Run, Smith insisted that those involved in running the NRL do their jobs and players’ privacy must not be violated.

“I don’t think displaying player salaries is the way to go, really,” he said.

“It’s a privacy issue. There are very few industries that show people’s salaries, so why would top athletes have to do that?

“There are people in our game who know exactly what these players are being paid, they’re busy having that in front of them, calculating where each club is and if they’re all overboard and going to the NRL Salary cap keep rules, then it’s fine.”

Smith played over 400 first-grade games during his time with the Storm but was also at the forefront of the club’s salary cap violations in the mid to late 2000s.

Spencer Leniu and Dom Young, who are likely to join the Roosters – who have long been questioned for their salary cap and ability to consistently attract players from rival clubs – will only add further question marks to those involved in the game.

With the likes of Penrith and Melbourne losing top-flight players in recent months due to their continued success, Smith admitted it was all part of rugby league’s current business model.

“It’s unfortunate, as some people might see it, when some clubs are favored as they can entice players to sign for them, it’s just an unfortunate event,” he said.

“Given Penrith’s dominance of late, I felt it was inevitable that they would lose some players… They signed relatively small deals to begin with.

“The more established players like Isaah Yeo and Nathan Cleary will take a big chunk of this club’s salary cap. So if you have workers like Spencer Leniu who are getting some kind of minimum wage, the possibility of going there and getting paid a lot more to play a similar role is very tempting.

“If you look at clubs, particularly those that have had sustained success, they’re the ones who, over time, are losing players to opposing clubs as they start picking off successful clubs.”