Kalyn Ponga is no longer the NRL’s richest star, according to reports.
The Newcastle Knights star, aged 26, had reigned supreme as the league’s highest-paid player in 2023 and 2024, banking a whopping $1.3million for the season.
However, according to The Courier Mail, the fullback has this year been usurped at the top by none other than Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary, who is understood to be pocketing a cheque worth around $1.3m this season.
The outlet revealed the top-100 highest-paid athletes competing in the NRL for the 2025 season, with Ponga dropping to sixth in the rankings, on a pay packet of $1.2m.
His remuneration package is understood to have been reduced to a little less this year, with Ponga also supplementing his rugby league salary with sponsorships with Nike and deodorant brand Stuff That Matters.
Much uncertainty has revolved over Ponga’s future in the NRL with the footy star’s lucrative deal set to come to an end in 2027.
Kalyn Ponga (pictured) has been usurped from his spot at the top of the NRL’s rich list
Nathan Cleary (pictured) has been named as the NRL’s highest earning footy player for 2025
It is, though, no surprise to see Cleary top the table in 2025, with the Clive Churchill medallist widely regarded as the best player in the league.
Alongside his monster Penrith pay packet, Cleary supplements his income with multiple property investments, having sold an apartment in Thornton Central for $660,000 earlier this year.
He is also a co-owner of the Sydney-based beer brand, Drink West, and is an investor in the Penrith-based sports bar, Freddy’s, which opened last year.
Cleary jumps up from second in the rankings to take the top spot, and is followed by Parramatta halfback, Mitchell Moses.
The 30-year-old footy star has jumped up by one place this year after putting pen to paper on a five-year deal with the Eels earlier in February which will see him bank an extraordinary $6.5m.
Aside from his footy earnings, Moses also has previously had dealings in the real estate world and also owns his own fitness brand, called Housed.
Below him comes Queensland State of Origin star Tom Trbojevic, who has jumped up from fourth to third in the rich list rankings this season.
The 28-year-old Manly star has just a year left on his $1.25m-a-year deal and while injuries have hampered the footy star in recent years, the 2021 Dally M medallist is in a brilliant vein of form right now.
Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell (pictured) just makes it into the top-ten thanks to his $1.1m-per-season deal
It also comes as Tommy Turbo this week has purchased a new $4.3m home at the Collaroy Plateau in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Titans star Tino Fa’asumaleaui jumps up the rankings from sixth to fourth and could move even higher in the rankings in the coming years thanks to a clause in his deal with the Gold Coast outfit that could see his contract rise to $1.5m-per-year.
And coming in at fifth is Wests Tigers playmaker Jarome Luai, who has jumped up the rankings from 51st to fifth, following his big money move to the Leichhardt Oval last summer. Some have argued that he and Trbojevic are overpaid, but Luai has impressed this season for the Tigers.
Elsewhere, Queensland captain Cameron Munster has dropped down from fifth to seventh. The Melbourne Storm star has two years left on his $1.15m-a-year deal and has also supplemented his income from footy with a lucrative property portfolio.
All of Payne Haas, Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Murray take the remaining spots inside the top ten on the NRL’s rich list.
Outside of the biggest money earners, some fans have scrutinised the mega-money deals of several players, including Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who is currently contracted to the Storm on a $860,000-a-year deal.
That is the same for Jake Trbojevic, who has jumped from 16th to 12th in the standings, thanks to his $1.1m deal.
One of the biggest names to slide down the rankings is outgoing Manly star Daly Cherry-Evans.
Queensland star Cameron Munster (pictured) sits in seventh place in the rankings
At 36, the halfback still ranks inside the top 25 earners in the league thanks to his $900,000-a-season deal, however, that will all come to an end this year when he leaves the Sea Eagles and it will be interesting to see whether he can pocket a similar pay packet amid a drop off in form.
Two of the biggest bargains in the NRL sit lower down the table, with last year’s Dally M winner, Jahrome Hughes, and his Storm team-mate Harry Grant both pocketing $850,000 each a year.
Both, though, are coming close to the conclusions of their old deals, with Hughes, now 30, able to ask for a bigger chunk of Storm’s salary pot next year following his excellent form.
Hughes, in fact, was reportedly in talks to join up with the Perth Bears in an eye-watering $2million contract to move to Western Australia to stay with his family in Melbourne.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .