THEY’RE the huge deals warping the player market.

Last year it was Ben Hunt’s game changing deal with St George Illawarra and this year it’s Angus Crichton’s impending move to the Sydney Roosters.

When a huge deal is struck so early in the piece, it becomes the measuring stick for where the market is at for that position.

It happened with halves in 2017.

Round 19

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Hunt’s payday saw every off-contract playmaker chase their slice of the inflated pie.

Recruitment chiefs across the game felt the impact of the deal.

It’s bizarre to think that one contract can have such a ripple effect but that’s the reality of the NRL.

Canberra backrower Josh Papalii fends off Ashley Taylor. Source: News Corp Australia

In 2018, it’s the year of the backrower.

There’s no shortage of them off-contract with plenty of quality unsigned.

The likes of Boyd Cordner, Josh Papalii, Felise Kaufusi, Jamie Buhrer, Ethan Lowe and Simon Mannering are all free agents in the final season of their current deals.

Already Cordner, Kaufusi and Papalii are eyeing off dramatic increases as internationals.

Emerging talents like Esan Marsters, Jaydn Su’a and Tevita Pangai Junior are also unsigned for 2019.

Raiders head of recruitment Peter Mulholland joins Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover to delve into the club’s roster strategy, salary cap issues and Josh Hodgson solutions in a podcast that wraps up the NRL off-season.

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Canberra’s head of recruitment, Peter Mulholland, admits one big move by a rival can be felt across multiple clubs.

“It can warp the market because perception is part of our game,” Mulholland told the Market Watch podcast.

“There’s a public perception that ‘this is what he’s getting’ and the managers that aren’t involved in it will look at it and say, ‘well perhaps this is what halfbacks or backrowers are worth these days’.

Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner. Source: Getty Images

“It sends a little bit of a shiver through the market.”

While it was heavily reported that Hunt’s deal at the Dragons is $1.2 million-a-year, foxsports.com.au understands the deal is actually worth an average of $1 million-a-season.

Crichton’s figures at the Roosters have also been exaggerated by some.

While the South Sydney young gun will become the highest paid backrower in the game next year, figures of $3 million and $2.7 million are wide of the mark.

Foxsports.com.au understands the value is closer to $800,000-a-season.

Inaccuracy in the figures being reported can occur for multiple reasons.

Issac Luke of the Warriors runs after Angus Crichton of the Rabbitohs. Source: Getty Images

Hunt and Crichton’s deals are by no means the only example, with Mulholland pointing to the fact many clubs leak information to the media to sway perception of the public.

“It’s hard. Sometimes it can be a media speculation that presents these figures to us, it’s not the real cap value,” he explained.

“Sometimes the clubs that they’re departing from can release a figure that says this is what they’re getting but it might be a little off to give us a reason why they’ve left.”