A lot of the rules have changed. Some things you have missed are:-
NRL 2016 Salary Cap: 6.8 million (min salary of $80k)
+ Long Serving Player Allowance ($200K) for eligible players who have played eight continuous years of grade football with that club including Holden Cup and NSW Cup. I can think of B Stewart, Steve Matai, Jamie Buhrer & others.
+ $600,000 - Marquee Player Allowance - any or all of the Top 25 players at each club can share in payments made by club sponsors seeking to use a player's intellectual property. These may be guaranteed in the playing contract by clubs. I'm thinking DCE here. That would reduce his cap hit to only $600 odd thousand.
Unlimited Third Party Agreements - Players can earn unlimited amounts from corporate sponsors who are not associated with the club and who do not use the game's intellectual property (no club logos, jerseys or emblems) provided these are pre-approved. These agreements may not be negotiated by the club as an incentive for a player to sign a contract, nor can they be guaranteed by the club.
Payments for players outside Top 25 of $440,000 can be made - Cap for all players outside of the top 25 who compete in the Telstra Premiership. Manipulate this how you will.
You'll find that not only are we under the cap, but I'd say we have a fair bit of wiggle room. People also massively exaggurate what players earn. I was told Choc was making $900k by some, when his contract never went over 450k at his peak.