It is the question on every Leeds Rhinos supporter's lips - what is the deal with the salary cap? Many have struggled to get to grips with the fact the Rhinos have been up to cap. But the message from Rohan Smith and Gary Hetherington has been consistent and clear, there has been no room to do any further business.
So where is all the cap space being used? If we roll the clocks back to the start of the season, the Rhinos were fully up to cap after an off-season recruitment drive that saw James Bentley, Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer and David Fusitu'a arrive at the club.
In April, the club brought in Hardaker. They were able to do the deal due to new salary cap rules that had been implemented ahead of the season. Whereas the salary cap had previously been live, the system was changed for 2022 which meant a club's salary cap spend must be under the maximum limit across the course of the year.
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As a result, the Rhinos were made to move players on in the season. That resulted in Alex Mellor and Jack Broadbent leaving to ensure the club was salary cap compliant. So let's start from that point.
Since then, there have been a number of changes. Seven players have left. Tom Briscoe, Brad Dwyer, Muizz Mustapha, Liam Sutcliffe, Bodene Thompson and now Jack Walker have moved on to pastures new. Hardaker, of course, won't be there either.
Meanwhile, the club has brought in seven players. Justin Sangare, James McDonnell, Derrell Olpherts, Luke Hooley, Luis Roberts, Leon Ruan and Toby Warren have all come in.
But it's a safe assumption that the salary cap value of the players departing is far higher than those arriving. As an example, Walker's salary cap value for next year is thought to have been in the region of £100,000. Of those heading, out six were established Super League players. Of those coming in, four of them have never played Super League before and another, McDonnell, has only played three times. They simply will not be costing the same amount of money.
So how is there a salary cap issue? One key point worth remembering is that Leeds, like many other clubs, give their players staggered contracts that raise in value every season. This is a standard salary cap management practice clubs use to juggle their spend over a number of years. So as an example, a player may sign a three-year contract that sees them earn a certain amount in the first season before increasing the year after and the year after that.
This is regularly the case with younger players in an attempt to ensure their salary cap value reflects their trajectory and value to the squad. It's worth noting, of course, that Leeds have a lot of young players on long-term deals, such as Morgan Gannon, Harry Newman and Mikolaj Oledzki among others. You may recall that when Luke Gale left last season, the club used that freed-up space to tie down several of their players on new contracts. The second year of those deals will now be coming into effect.
What is unclear is just how much space the Rhinos have had to keep free for those increased salaries, but it will be a substantial amount. Of course, the youngsters that have now come into the club will be on the lower end of their deals.
That isn't to say that Leeds have no cap space now. It was made clear by Smith that they would only be able to keep Hardaker if they moved players on. Walker has now gone and Hardaker isn't staying. So what is for certain is that Leeds have a pretty sizable amount of salary cap space, and a quota spot for good measure.
How they use it, of course, remains to be seen.
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