Quote: SmokeyTA "I can see the issues around backloading a contract, I can’t see what the issue the game would have with front-loading the contract like that would be?
As far as I am aware there is no provision to pay a player more in the first than last year of the contract, im not sure what the expected gain from there being so would be?'"
The salary cap regs do say that for cap audit purposes, reward for services across the length of a contract can be spread pro-rata between the salary cap years covered by that contract, rather than being based on when the salary was received by the player.
So if you agreed to pay a player £100k in year one, then £50k per year for years two, three and four, the RFL could interpret that as being £62.5k per year for each of the four salary cap years.
It's how they deal with signing bonuses for cap purposes, they pro-rata them across the length of the contract.