NRL: Fit a squad under the cap?

Woody, whether you think there is enough money or whether you think there isn't enough money is besides the point. These are the rules at the moment. What this question provides the opportunity to prove the case either way.

I know it's a toughie, but unless you have a crack at putting the numbers to work, it's a bit hard to take your opinion seriously.

Knights I wouldn't worry about contract lengths, because then we'd have to get into back and front loading as well. The salary cap is the same every year. As for putting in names, that would be a massive can of worms.

I was expecting was something like this:

1. Specialist Fullback

2. Winger

3. Centre

4. Centre

5. Winger

6. Reserve half

7. Specialist halfback

8. Starting prop

9. Specialist hooker

10. Starting prop

11. Starting backrower

12. Starting backrower

13. Starting backrower

14. Reserve prop

15. Reserve prop

16. Reserve backrower

17. Reserve hooker

18. Reserve fullback

19. Winger

20. Centre

21. Centre

22. Winger

23. Reserve half

24. Reserve half

25. Reserve prop

26. Reserve hooker

27. Reserve prop

28. Reserve backrower

29. Reserve backrower

30. Reserve backrower

1 Specialist fullback on $500kpa

1 Specialist halfback on $500kpa

1 Specialist hooker on $500kpa

2 Starting prop on $200kpa each

4 Winger s on $120kpa each

4 Centres on $120kpa each

3 Starting backrowers on $120kpa each

4 Reserve props on $90kpa each

3 Reserve halves on $90kpa each

2 Reserve hookers on $90kpa each

1 Reserve fullback on $70kpa each

4 Reserve backrowers on $70kpa each

In this example, the bottom 5 players are all on $70k which is above the minimum wage of $55k and uses the full $350k allowance for players in the squad but outside the top 25. The other 25 players' wages total $4.01M which is under the cap of $4.1M.