it's called good salary cap management. when you dont have a hooker on 950k, a centre still suffering from a dislocated him on like 400-500k and a bunch of young players paid on potential not performance your team will look like cr*p.
The roosters got jennings for almost nothing because the panthers were paying him. they got Tupou from NSW Cup and i doubt RTS, Friend and Cordner would be being paid above market value. Now that RTS's contract is up for renewal, he wanted market value and is off to the warriors as a result.
notice how the chooks did NOT bargain with him and end up paying a million dollars for him and stuff up their cap for the next 4 years.
then consider the tigers have one of the worst facilities in the NRL, because we're underfunded. We're getting stuff now the broncos have had for 5-10 years and the NFL for even longer. that means rich clubs will not get injured as often, and all their players have a slight edge on ours through better conditioning, diet etc.
being rich is valuable in the NRL, but the salary cap is still effective. no club has gone back to back in like 24 years. meanwhile AFL just had a three peat, NBA had miamia heat in 4 consecutive finals appearances etc. etc.
