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NRL Rich 100: Rugby league’s highest paid players revealed

NRL Rich 100: Rugby league's highest paid players revealed

North Queensland, Cronulla and Brisbane have built their premiership revival on a shrewd recruitment drive that has transformed the NRL trio from title pretenders to finals contenders.

Just 12 months ago, the Cowboys, Broncos and Sharks were clubs under pressure to get results after bombing out of finals contention, with the Queensland duo finishing in the bottom three.

But News Corp’s exclusive, annual NRL Rich 100 has laid bare how clever recruitment strategies have catapulted the Sharks, Cowboys and Broncos back into premiership contention.

The five buys of the season — Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell (Broncos), Dale Finucane and Nicho Hynes (Cronulla) and Chad Townsend (Cowboys) — have produced stunning results for their respective clubs.

NRL Rich 100: The Origin stars snubbed from list

CHECK OUT PART ONE OF THE NRL RICH 100 BELOW

And the cost has been far from a salary cap-busting experience.

The Broncos outlaid a combined $1.35 million for premiership-winning duo Reynolds and Capewell. The Sharks forked out $1.25m to lure Storm pair Finucane and Hynes to the Sutherland Shire, while North Queensland’s $710,000 investment in Townsend, who steered Cronulla to the 2016 title, has paid handsome dividends.

There were huge question marks on Townsend’s Townsville gamble. Critics of the playmaker believed that, at 31, he was washed up and hurtling toward disaster in the tropics.

But after a one-hour meeting in a Sutherland Shire cafe, Cowboys bosses knew Townsend would be the right fit. Their purchase has been vindicated, with Townsend, buoyed by the Cowboys co-captaincy, turning back the clock to pilot North Queensland into the top two.

At No.44 in the Rich 100, Townsend has delivered bang for his buck.

“Chad has been boots-and-all in since day one,” Cowboys football boss Micheal Luck said.

“The first time we met Chad, we were confident he was the guy we needed.

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“Todd (Payten, coach), myself and Dane Campbell (recruitment chief) met with Chad in a cafe in Caringbah and for me to watch Chad and Todd talk for an hour, it was like two coaches having a yarn about footy.

“We did our homework on Chad with guys who had played with him. The feedback was we needed a composed on-field general who didn’t get too concerned about what was happening around him.

“He has been great for our group. He has been the ultimate pro and a great mentor and teacher for Tom Dearden (five-eighth partner).

“There are a whole heap of ways to put a roster together and we have taken the approach of trying to get as many guys in there that can contribute and contribute now.

“Chad was exactly what we were looking for as a playmaker and leader.”

At the Sharks, hardworking lock Finucane and cool-headed playmaker Hynes have injected a winning DNA.

CHECK OUT PART ONE OF THE NRL RICH 100 BELOW

After finishing ninth last season, Cronulla turned to a new coach in Craig Fitzgibbon and the rookie NRL mentor believed Finucane and Hynes could bring a fusion of steel and tactical smarts to the Sharks.

The formula has worked — at the right price. Finucane is 66th in the Rich 100 at $625,000, while Hynes is ranked No.72 at $600,000, outstanding value given his remarkable transition from Storm supersub to Cronulla’s main man at halfback.

“I had a relationship with Craig Fitzgibbon since playing under him with Country and NSW Origin, so that’s what drew me to the club,” Finucane said.

“I was involved in grand finals and premierships, so it’s no secret that it was hard to leave Melbourne.

“But I’ve enjoyed my time at the Sharks. It’s an opportunity to be part of helping mold what the club wants to be moving forward.”

Reynolds and Capewell have had a similar impact at the Broncos.

After finishing 14th last year, Brisbane were crying out for leadership and a seasoned playmaker to steer the ship.

Capewell’s premiership know-how is worth every cent at $550,000, while Reynolds has repaid Brisbane’s $800,000 outlay by delivering a finals campaign in his debut season at Red Hill.

“The best way to describe our list is well balanced,” Broncos football boss Ben Ikin said.

“’Reyno’ has this great mix of competitive drive and fun in him and Capewell drives our standards, he isn’t afraid to call out blokes if they are cutting corners at training.

“We constructed a plan on how we wanted our roster to look. Throw in guys like Reynolds and Capewell, guys who have been in big games and won premierships, and we have a nice balance.”

Canterbury’s decision in November 2020 to sign Matt Burton, after just six NRL games with Penrith, to a deal worth $550,000 this season, has been a master stroke.

Although the Bulldogs have struggled this season, Burton’s rise at five-eighth has earned him plenty of plaudits. The 22-year-old is able to negotiate with rival teams for 2024 from November 1, when he will be able to command around $800,000 for his next deal.

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Ken Hinkley will coach Port Adelaide in 2023 says David Koch, Power contract

Ken Hinkley will coach Port Adelaide in 2023 says David Koch, Power contract

Port Adelaide president David Koch has emphatically declared Ken Hinkley will see out his current contract and coach the club in 2023.

A question mark had been hovering over Hinkley and his position at the Power, despite being contracted to the club until next year and his defiant AFL 360 interview on Monday night where he said he expected to be at Alberton next year.

Amid mounting criticism over Hinkley’s coaching from fans, Koch said earlier this week “every single person’s role” would be assessed at the end of the season, which has seen the Power drop out of finals contention after back-to-back preliminary final runs.

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Koch spoke on 5AA radio on Monday and conceded the club was “not afraid to make change.” His comment from him, “turn it around or watch out”, fueled speculation there could be sweeping changes to the club’s football department.

But Koch confirmed to 7 News Adelaide on Thursday night Hinkley would remain at Alberton.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley with Chairman David Koch.Source: Twitter

“Obviously, for all of us, this season has been a major disappointment … (and) as we always do, we’ll thoroughly assess our football program at season’s end,” Koch told 7 News Adelaide.

“But, as the club has maintained all year, Ken Hinkley is contracted and will be our coach in 2023

“Prior to this season, Ken led us to two consecutive preliminary finals.

“Some will argue we should make a change based on our performance this season alone and that Ken has never taken the team to a grand finale.

“But we base decisions on all the information in front of us.

“We believe Ken gives us the best chance of successfully rebounding next season, of successfully attracting new talent and football department resources to make us better.”

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Thursday night, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt said it was a “big backflip” from Koch that should never have happened.

“I like it from the point of view that it provides fodder for all of us to talk about, but Ken Hinkley must get to the end of the week and think: ‘What did I just go and endure – and for what?’” a passionate Riewoldt said on AFL 360.

“So Kochie comes out on Monday saying what he said after the CEO, the footy manager, everyone else in the club has been on the same page – and five days later he backflips on the statement? He could’ve said on Monday what he said tonight, but he chose not to – and by omission, he put Ken Hinkley under ridiculous, undue pressure this week. It was really poor.

“I think Ken’s probably got a reasonable tolerance for it now after all of this time, but I’d be scratching my head.”

Hinkley is Port’s second longest serving coach, behind the club’s sole AFL premiership coach in Mark Williams.

In his 10 seasons in charge, Hinkley has steered the Power to finals in four seasons and has a 60.8 per cent win rate from his 212 games as coach.

When asked directly on AFL 360 if he felt any uncertainty as coach after Koch’s “turn it around or watch out” comments, Hinkley replied: “No, no I don’t”.

Koch statement awkward for Hinkley? | 01:36

“David (Koch) himself has said that he expects me to be coaching Port Adelaide in 2023, as I do and that’s what I am preparing for,” he said.

“I think I’ve been given enough assurances (he’ll see out his deal) through the season, not that I needed them to be fair.

“We all get there’s a finish line for everyone at some point.

“But as I sit here tonight, I’m more than confident that that won’t be at the end of 2022.”

Hinkley said despite the outside pressure, his players “100 per cent” continued to back him in for an 11th season in 2023 – and final year of his current contract — saying:

“My players, they play for me every week. They play for us every week.

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Ken Hinkley contract, David Koch comments, will he coach next year, Port Adelaide, Mark Robinson

Ken Hinkley contract, David Koch comments, will he coach next year, Port Adelaide, Mark Robinson

AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson believes Port Adelaide president David Koch “made an error of judgment” with recent comments about the club’s football department.

Koch told FIVEaa this week “every single person’s role” would be assessed at the end of the season, which has seen the Power drop out of finals contention after back-to-back preliminary final runs.

Senior coach Ken Hinkley is contracted until 2023, but a question mark remains over whether he’ll continue in the role, despite Hinkley himself at this stage still expecting to be there next year.

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Koch statement awkward for Hinkley? | 01:36

Koch’s comment, “turn it around or watch out”, drew criticism from Robinson.

“David Koch has been a tremendous president but he made an error of judgment in my opinion by saying what he said,” Robinson posed.

“I don’t think he gets football in the sense where if he knew this was going to be the fallout – that every media organization in Australia is going to be looking at it saying ‘are you going to get rid of him or not’ – that’s not how to treat a guy who has been there for 10 years.

“Just hold the horses a little bit. I think that’s been the fallout from this.”

Robinson labeled the comments “footy-naive”, but added they should not be misinterpreted as a call for prospective coaches to make their intentions known.

“What Koch said yesterday was not an open invitation for Alastair Clarkson’s people to ring the club,” he said.

“I know that’s been floating around … but that’s not my information.”

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Casualty Ward, Sydney Swans, Josh Kennedy, Richmond, Nick Vlastuin, St Kilda, Dan Hannebery, Geelong Cats, Patrick Dangerfield, injury, news, latest, update, fitness, team news

Casualty Ward, Sydney Swans, Josh Kennedy, Richmond, Nick Vlastuin, St Kilda, Dan Hannebery, Geelong Cats, Patrick Dangerfield, injury, news, latest, update, fitness, team news

There’s fears Sydney veteran Josh Kennedy has played his last match after suffering another hamstring injury in the VFL.

Plus the Saints’ sweat on Dan Hannebery’s fitness after the luckless midfielder goes down once again.

Get the latest AFL injury news in our Round 21 Casualty Ward!

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SYDNEY veteran Josh Kennedy could potentially be “pushed into retirement” after another hamstring injury; this time suffered in the VFL on Sunday.

Kennedy missed 10 matches after a horror hamstring tendon injury suffered against Carlton back in Round 10.

He made his return as the medi sub last round, but didn’t get on the field.

So the Swans made the call to send Kennedy back to the VFL. But he has now injured the hamstring on his opposite leg.

Kennedy limped off the ground in the second term after trying to lay a tackle on North’s Tarryn Thomas.

“It’s disastrous developments,” Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph said.

“It seemed to be a really serious hamstring injury.

“The worst case scenario for a hamstring tear at the high end scale or a tendon injury probably puts him out for the rest of the season and potentially pushes him into retirement.”

Riewoldt on ‘mind-boggling’ McEvoy trade | 01:14

PORT ADELAIDE star connor rozee will undergo scans after a knee scare in Saturday night’s loss to Richmond, but club doctors are confident the mercurial midfielder has avoided significant damage.

The 22-year-old limped from the ground in the second quarter at Adelaide Oval after his left leg twisted awkwardly under him as he attempted a quick change of direction.

He was clearly in pain as he was assessed on the sideline and was taken to the changerooms for treatment before half-time, then shortly emerged with the knee heavily strapped to play out the second half.

The Power was playing for pride only, having been knocked out of finals contention by Collingwood, but coach Ken Hinkley was comfortable with the decision not to put the young star in cotton wool.

“What you do when you manage a player is you have good conversations with the medical team and they were very certain and sure that there was not going to be any further damage done,” Hinkley said.

“It was about whether the pain was manageable for Connor and he seemed to think it was.

“You wouldn’t take a risk with a player like Connor, and we never do, regardless of the state of the season.

“(The medical staff) said structurally it’s all fine so that should give us confidence.”

RICHMOND are waiting on the results of scans on defender Nick Vlastuin after he was subbed out of the win over Port Adelaide.

Vlastuin sustained rib damage in a collision with Charlie Dixon, with Richmond coach Damien Hardwick conceding it is unlikely the important defender will be fit to take on the Hawks on Sunday.

He could also be in doubt to face Essendon in Round 23.

Tigers down Port to keep finals alive | 01:09

GEELONG are taking a cautious approach with star Patrick Dangerfieldafter the veteran was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s win over St Kilda.

But Cats coach Chris Scott is confident Dangerfield will be fit to face the Gold Coast next weekend.

“The feedback I’ve got from him and the medical staff is that he’s fine,” Scott said.

“He just felt some awareness (of calf tightness) in the warm-up and I think in the past he’s pushed through these things thinking he’d be fine.

“And even if there was a one per cent chance that he might do some damage, he wasn’t prepared to take it. So it seemed a logical call.”

ST KILDA coach Brett Ratten says Dan Hannebery is in a race to be fit for the must-win clash with Brisbane on Friday night.

The injury-prone Hannebery was subbed out of the loss to Geelong with an ankle injury.

He’s managed just 17 games for the Saints since crossing from Sydney at the end of 2018 due to ongoing soft tissue injuries.

Hannebery is also out of contract at the end of this season.

“We’ve just got to look after him,” Ratten said.

Geelong stay top with massive Saints win | 02:30

“It was a risk to put him back out there; we’re not taking a risk with a player we are trying to get up for next week.

“He might not even get up this week. We’ve just got to work through what it will look like for Dan post this game.

“He’ll be a test all the way until the last day. It’ll be tight.”

Ratten conceded Hannebery was in “a bit of discomfort” post match but said if he provided himself fit, he’ll keep his spot in the line up to face the Lions.

FREMANTLE‘s Matt Taberner is racing to be fit to face West Coast in next weekend’s Western Derby after being subbed out of the win over the Western Bulldogs.

Taberner failed to see out the match once again, this time with a calf issue, after being restricted to just 12 games in 2022 due to back and hamstring complaints.

Coach Justin Longmuir said the latest setback was disappointing.

“He was looking dangerous again so it’s disappointing for him and us,” he said.

“We’ll rehab it and see what the rest of the year looks like.

“We’ll see what the scan says and see what the doctors recommend for his time out but there’s not much of the season left to be too cautious so we’ll see how it pans out over the next couple of days.”

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North Melbourne should target David Mundy says Nick Riewoldt and Mark Robinson, age, contract

North Melbourne should target David Mundy says Nick Riewoldt and Mark Robinson, age, contract

Two Fox Footy pundits have urged North Melbourne to make a “Luke Hodge-style play” for outgoing Docker David Mundy to boost the bottom-placed club’s leadership prospects.

Mundy, Fremantle’s games record-holder, on Monday called time on his celebrated AFL career, three days after making his 371st appearance.

It places Mundy in the 10th spot on the all-time VFL/AFL games played table, with Scott Pendlebury (352), Joel Selwood (350) and Lance Franklin (335) the closest to him among active players.

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night, Mundy, 37, said he was pretty happy and content” with his decision after a pre-season ankle injury kickstarted retirement thoughts, but said there was “nothing set in concrete” for post-footy life.

Asked if he would’ve played on at Freo had his body allowed him to, Mundy told On The Couch: “No I don’t think so. I’m really proud to still be able to strongly contribute on gameday in the 22nd.

“I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’d feel really guilty if I hung on and battled my way through a year and ended as a broken, crippled old man. To go out on top I feel a great deal of pleasure in.”

But Herald Sun Journalist Jon Ralph reported Mundy “just wasn’t offered a new deal and he would’ve played on”.

“I asked his management … Two weeks ago, he said ‘I’ll keep playing at this club until they kick me out’ … He was hopeful with contract negotiations as recently as two weeks ago and it didn’t happen,” Ralph told On The Couch.

“That’s not a pot on Fremantle, they just decided to go another way and that’s fine.”

St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt said it was a “surprising” call by Mundy, who was awarded AFL Coaches’ Association MVP votes for his 35-disposal, 15-contested possession and 10-clearance display against Melbourne last Friday night.

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It’s why Riewoldt encouraged the 18th-placed Kangaroos to target Mundy this off-season

“I understand his reasons because you want to go out maintaining that really strong level of performance, but he wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down,” Riewoldt told On The Couch.

“He sounded definitive then, but if you’re North Melbourne, would you say to him: ‘Dave, come play for two years, stick around and be an assistant because we need some leadership’ – would you make the phone call?”

Fellow Fox Footy panelist Garry Lyon added: “It’s not the silliest idea you’ve ever had.”

David Mundy of the Fremantle Dockers addressing the media after announcing he will be retiring. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson echoed Riewoldt’s thoughts minutes later, saying the Kangaroos should look at what Brisbane did in late 2017 when it traded in four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge as its young group moved into finals contention.

“I think North Melbourne should go after him and offer him a one-year deal to come over to Victoria and help the young kids at North Melbourne,” Robinson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360. “Like (Luke) Hodge, like the first-year Giants in James McDonald and a few others (in 2012).

“I think if he wants to continue playing, North Melbourne should look at a Luke Hodge-style play for David Mundy.

“He’s playing good enough. He’s not ‘at the end’, so if he’s a really good footy club person, give him a deal that (includes a) coaching role as well.”

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