Cashed-up St George Illawarra still have four spots to fill on their 30-man roster for next year and are hoping to pounce in an end-of-season fire sale waged by clubs that will need to shed players after over-shooting the indicative salary cap.

Adding to Newcastle coach Nathan Brown's calls for the NRL to resist lobbying from clubs that have spent more than the forecast $9.2 million player payment pool to implement a "soft cap" or grandfather rule for 2018, the Dragons are another with wiggle room at the end of the year.

The gulf between clubs that have stringently toed the projected salary cap line and others who have flirted with a higher figure is only widening as a player market in a state of flux for months looks to take centre stage again during the NRL finals.

The result of drawn-out collective bargaining agreement negotiations could lead to a number of players being told they need to find new clubs at short notice – and the Dragons have emerged as potential suitors, along with Brown's Knights.