Gareth only went up into the top 25 at Melbourne this year, minimum payment for the top 25 is $55k a year, so this is where the journos are getting the $55k figure from, previous years he was on even less, but he has been an apprentice at Melbourne since he was 16, through the 18s, 20s, NSW Cup and now 1st Grade and like all apprentices he started on the minimum wage for the grade that he was playing at the time, he has bided his time in the lower ranks so to speak and taken whatever the prevailing rates that were available at the time and gone with the flow. He is on, with others at the club, the current minimum wage + match payments which would more than double the minimum wage at the conclusion of the season.
He has also just signed a 3 year deal, (3rd year is player activated) with the Storm which is worth 200K+ a year.

Journo’s are lazy by nature and more often than not report half a story or their own spin on a story anyway.

Professional players these days deserve all they can get because contrary to belief they only get 1 day off a week and if you’re a rep player up to a month off at the conclusion of the 4 Nations before pre-season starts all over again, they spend a lot of time away from home and family and not to mention the toll they put their bodies through in their relatively short careers.

Come the new Cap deal in 2014 players should be able to increase their salaries’ by at least 50%. And good luck to thenm I say.

The solution for the hard up fans who can’t afford games anymore is to watch it on TV. This TV can be anywhere ranging from a pub, to the lounge a home or even a shop window. Illegal broadcasts online is an even cheaper way to follow your premiership team. For those who don’t like the glare of the TV screen then there’s radio commentary. There’s always a cheaper alternative and if you can’t afford the match day prices then don’t bother going to the games.

The bottom line is that most money these days comes from corporate sponsorship and TV deals. You could have an empty stadium and a top flight sports club can stay up. You’ve only got to look at super league attendances to confirm this. Sky TV amongst other things pay our players wages.

If you want a man u shirt cheap then get one from abroad. Plenty of dodgy copies you can get over they and no one will give a damn. I’ve had fake designer gear for years and it has given me a false sense of the good life. But so what?

Wigg,n wrote sum youngsters on £9k a year thats really bad iy true

being related to 1 of said youngsters that signed to a rather famous BIG CLUB i can confirm that rumour to be true and personally think its disgusting for what they put there bodys thru week in week out

What's classed as a youngster here though? I.e. If we are still talking an age where they could be at Uni / College £750 a month is a lot of money, however if they are around first team and 100% full time playing rugby then yea it's not great.

By youngster I mean fringe first teamers playing a handful of games a year, although if clubs pick up injuries and these players are required to play more games, their wage is still only going to be £9k.

One example is Chris Ashton in 2006 - another 'rumour' of course, but apparently he was on £12k that year and he played nearly every first team game.

Pot.

Meet kettle