Yeah I'd say that is one of the main things.
I'm not sure what the roosters squad looks like beyond their starting 17, but potentially it's full of promising kids to act as their depth. I cant even think of any journeyman type players that sit in their reserve grade except the Morris brothers but they play every week. So in that sense it's likely their depth is full of $100k players whereas we pay our promising players overs before they're ready. Even Bullemor has just earned an upgrade into the top 30, and a guy like Niu is in the top 30. I like both of them, but they could be on more than the minimum $110k and are probably just short of being able to be in the 17 each and every week... yet we have to pay them a bit more, because hype
They got pretty lucky with the Morris brothers being so good... and now they are a little like the NBA teams where veterans will head to them on a cheap contract in the hope of snagging a title before heading off into the sunset.
They really hit their peak after buying Teddy and Cronk.. and got pretty lucky that Keary kicked on after basically being discarded by souths. Crichton was a bit of a luxury buy... although I deem him probably the best back rower in the comp.
The real conundrum to me is why a guy like TKO is not on $700k-$800k... no one has pursued him in the 5-6 seasons he's been playing there despite him being a mini Lolo. Is it shenanigans with his contract (or at least shenanigans on the golf course) or does he just love roosters soooo much that he's happy to be on $500-$600k and in the middle of Bondi
Liu could be placed in the same boat. He's basically been a consistent presence in their 17 for 4-5 years at either lock or prop, but barely rates a mention when his contract pops up. I dont rate him that much but he seems a guy that could earn $500k from a desperate team, but seems to be on about $350-$400k