Tbh if we win 90% of battles with our pack we'd win the comp, as would any team I reckon. But really c1.8m+ on starting middles isn't even that extravagant when you look across the NRL, and there will be more teams paying that/exceeding that in coming years when marquee middles come off contract. There's a lot of high paid #13's out there too.
It's amazing how much the position has changed especially from a dollars perspective but it's where the game is won or lost these days for the most part