League: Cheap at half the price

One stands 8cm taller and weighs 5kg more, but a check of their vital (NRL) statistics shows there is little to separate Brent Webb and Wade McKinnon.

With the Warriors' exit door about to swing open again at the end of the season, the talk in Sydney suggests Parramatta fullback Wade McKinnon will replace Brent Webb in 2007 in a three-year deal worth about $200,000 a season.

The Warriors still haven't offered Webb a new contract, believing he would hold out for a significant increase to his present deal. This figure could be as much as double what he's currently on and an amount believed to be significantly more than McKinnon would cost.

Webb has turned out to be one of the Warriors' best buys since his arrival in 2002 and the 11-test Kiwi has undoubtedly been one of the standouts for the club this season.

But McKinnon has also impressed in a similarly underperforming outfit at the Eels and, although stats don't tell the whole story, a comparison of the two shows many similarities.

McKinnon has played three less NRL games than Webb this season because of a facial injury and trails Webb by four in the try-scoring stakes. But the 25-year-old, who is an explosive runner, measures up well in other departments.

In the NRL's statistics, McKinnon ranks sixth in terms of line breaks - Webb is seventh - while Webb is 11th equal in try assists (7) and 20th in hit-ups (169 to McKinnon's 161).

They've amassed more than 700m in kick returns and both have a knack of scoring a try roughly once every three games throughout their career.

"It would be great to think we could keep every player but it's not always possible," Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said on the chances of retaining Webb. "We are attempting to buy the best players money will allow."

Although the salary cap has risen to A$4 million for 2007 (a net increase of $250,000), the Warriors are hamstrung by deferred payments from this year's salary cap infringement.

The payments amount to what Scurrah described as a "middle-type player", or someone believed to be on about $200,000-$250,000 a season.

Scurrah said the club would still contract 25 to their first-grade squad and would spend close to the salary cap of $4 million.

The Herald on Sunday understands the Warriors will give themselves a $100,000 buffer for the upgrade of players presently contracted.

"We are committed to getting the team performing as soon as we can and that really means we have to spend close to the cap," Scurrah said. "I'm really optimistic that in 2008 we should be aiming very high but I would like to think we would be aiming pretty high next year, too."

The club yesterday re-signed Evarn Tuimavave for another three years, with the prop turning down more lucrative deals in the UK and Australia to stay in Auckland. The 21-year-old is seen as a natural successor to Ruben Wiki and Steve Price and has impressed in 2006.

The Warriors are yet to commit to Epalahame Lauaki, Awen Guttenbeil and Webb, and they also need a replacement for winger Misi Taulapapa, who was sacked last week.