NRL: What the Storm's money bought

Cameron Smith of the Melbourne Storm leads his team out onto the field during the round seven NRL match against the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

What do you get for an extra A$500,000 - the figure by which the Storm reportedly exceeded the 2009 salary cap?

First, you might get to keep hold of a couple of superstars who would otherwise have left to take up the extra $100,000 or so on offer from another club?

Let's say two of Greg Inglis, Cam Smith, Cooper Cronk or Billy Slater.

Next, you can pick up a player mid-season that other clubs would also loved to have had, but couldn't squeeze under their caps. Come on down, Brett Finch.

Finally, you also get to put a few extra dollars in the pockets of your mid to upper-level talent. Thanks for hanging around, Adam Blair, Ryan Hoffman and Dallas Johnson. The heart of a team that once were champions.

So, how did this galaxy of stars compare to a side that didn't cheat the cap. A side that finished, say, 14th?

1 Cam Smith, hooker

The Storm captain had another hugely influential season in 2009,
appearing in 25 games and scoring a team-high 142 points from three
tries and 65 goals. Widely considered the best hooker in the world,
the Queensland and Kangaroos hooker was, at 26, at the peak of his
powers in 2009. A lifetime Storm player, Smith debuted for the club
against the Bulldogs in 2002. He has pledged to remain at the Storm
and help rebuild the club in 2011.

Star rating: * * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Ian Henderson. A former third-choice hooker at
Parramatta, Henderson made his name with an impressive stint at
Bradford in the Super League. He made a strong impression in his
debut season at the Warriors in 2008, but struggled in a struggling side in '09.

Star rating: * * *

2 Billy Slater, fullback

Another if not home-grown then certainly home-nurtured talent, the
Queenslander has played more than 160 games for the Storm since
debuting in the first round of 2003. Last year was just another typical
Slater year, the mercurial fullback scoring 18 tries in 26 games, running for an average of 124.6m and making 28 linebreaks.

Another fixture on the representative scene, Slater was voted player of the tournament at the 2008 World Cup - despite pretty much handing the Kiwis victory in the final with a ridiculous infield pass to Benji Marshall. Is that relevant? No. Is it fun to bring it up every time it's at all possible? Absolutely.

Star rating: * * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Wade McKinnon. Another to make a huge
impression in his first Warriors season, McKinnon's stock has fallen
following a serious knee injury that wrecked his 2008 season. 2009 was
a down year, and the jury is still out on 2010.

Star rating: * * *

3 Greg Inglis, centre

Described by the agent who "discovered" him and sent him to
Melbourne as a player who won't necessarily get you to a final but will
win it for you when you are there, Inglis is clearly a big-game player.

Last year the Storm finally gave up on converting him to a five-eighth,
bringing in Finch midway through the campaign to take over that role.

That allowed Inglis to return to his preferred centre position full time, where he wreaked havoc whenever the mood took him. In a season
disrupted by suspension over a police matter, Inglis still managed 16
tries in 23 games and made 16 linebreaks while running for 121m a
game.

In the grand final he scored a decisive try from a bomb in the
49th-minute.

Star rating: * * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Brent Tate. The Warriors' marquee player may not
have the size, skill and athleticism of the freakish Inglis, but he makes up for much of that in attitude.

Inglis may be the player you'd want in a grand final, but Tate is the guy you'd want playing for your life.

Star rating: * * * *

4 Cooper Cronk, halfback

Perhaps the most under-rated player in the game, Cronk is a more
multi-faceted player than many credit. The Cronk-Smith axis is a vital
part of the Storm machine, both possessing the ability to put ball-
runners into holes. Cronk also provides a faultless kicking game and,
while he doesn't run often, he has the knack of running at the right time.

In '09 he scored eight tries in 27 games, made nine linebreaks and
produced 13 try assists and 12 linebreak assists. In the grand final he
set up a 24th-minute Adam Blair try with a linebreak and laid on Inglis' try with a pinpoint bomb.

Star rating: * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Stacey Jones. Remember we are talking 2009
here. The once great Jones was no longer great. He lacked pace,
wasn't much of a threat with the ball in hand and wasn't much of a
defender. He still had enough nous to move a side around a footy field,
but even at his best he could never do that as well as Cronk.

Star rating: * * *

5 Brett Finch, five-eighth

After walking out on Daniel Anderson's Eels early in 2009, Finch
found a welcome at the Storm.

In hindsight, the fact that the talent-packed Storm could pick up any player, let alone one of Finch's quality mid-season, should have rang alarm bells. Finch reputedly took a large pay cut to join the club, although there must now be a sizeable question-mark over that deal.

Whether the Storm needed him is a moot point, but Finch has clearly been a good fit in the Storm system, changing from an unhappy, out-of-sorts player at Parra to a game-winner in Melbourne.

Star rating: * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Joel Moon, Lance Hohaia, Nathan Fien, Aaron
Heremaia, Isaac John. Enough said.

Star rating: *

6 Dallas Johnson, lock

Yet another hand-reared Queensland talent, the nuggety lock played
158 games for the Storm over seven seasons. His swansong was the
2009 grand final, after which he departed for the Catalans Dragons.

The glue in the pack, Johnson was good for at least 40 tackles a
match. In game two of 2007 he set an Origin record, making 66
tackles in 77 minutes, tacking every NSW player except Jamie Lyon
at least once.

Star rating: * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Micheal Luck. A defensive workhorse in much the
same defensive mold as Johnson. Luck averaged just over 45 tackles a
match last season, to Johnson's 41. Their offensive numbers were also
similar, Luck scoring 11 tries through 174 matches by the end of 2009.
Johnson scored 12 in 158 for the Storm.

Star rating: * * *

7 Adam Blair, second row

The Kiwis star was somehow overlooked for the man of the match
award in the 2009 grand final, it went, as usual, to Billy Slater, a player who - ahem - once lost a World Cup for the Kangaroos almost single handedly.

Blair was colossal against the Eels, bending the defensive line
and scoring just his third career try in the 24th-minute to give the Storm a 10-0 lead.

The Whangarei-born forward is another product of a Storm system with a fine record in cherry-picking Kiwi talent.

Since debuting for the club in 2006 he has made more than 80 appearances, shifting from prop to the back row. In 2009 he was the club's joint top offloader with 35.

Star rating: * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Simon Mannering. Not the same type of player,
but at least a player of the same stature. When fit Mannering is a lock in the Warriors and Kiwis sides.

At roughly a try every four games,
Mannering is more of a scoring threat. But he lacks Blair's physicality
and offload game.

Star rating: * * * *

8 Ryan Hoffman, second row

He sat in the middle of the pitch in tears after the Storm's 2006 grand
final defeat by the Broncos, so one has to wonder how Ryan Hoffman
is feeling right now.

A big, ball-playing back rower, Hoffman matched Adam Blair's 35 offloads in 2009. He also matched the Kiwi's try-scoring
effort in the grand final, busting the Eels' line for the first score of the match.

Another one-club player, Hoffman debuted in 2003. By the end of 2009 he had scored 38 tries in 154 games.

Star rating: * * * *

Warriors Equivalent: Ben Matulino. Wellingtonian Matulino hit the
NRL with a hard shoulder charge when he burst on to the scene in
2008.

Since then his progress has been mixed, although he has
graduated to Kiwis representation. Still a hitman, but his offensive
game still needs work.

Star rating: * * *

Total star rating: Storm: 33/40 Warriors: 21.5/40

Compiled by Steve Deane