"You look at Melbourne's team ... take the third party [deals] out of it and they don't have half that team," Gallen said. "And they're probably not able to keep it for as long as they have.

"When you're in Melbourne, you've got one team in the city, they've got the best players in the world there and businessmen are happy to put their hands in their pocket and have them come to a kid's birthday or have them come to a business and talk to them about leadership. When you're in Sydney, you're competing with another eight other teams plus [other sports].

"I'm all for blokes earning as much money as they can, but when you look at the Melbournes, Brisbanes and the Cowboys they're able [to get more]. Who had [$800,000] in third-party agreements last year? Melbourne? That's a fair bonus.

"It's a difficult question because I'm all for players earning as much as they can, but it should be as even as possible. How they do it I've got absolutely no idea."

The NRL has argued the number of third-party agreements ticked off by League Central has dipped in recent years after the Parramatta and Manly salary cap probes, the latter of which is expected to be finalised within weeks.