They haven't even won the J.J Giltinan Shield but Melbourne Storm's co-owner Matthew Tripp called the $100,000 minor premiership prize 'embarassing' for the code.
With the Storm playing Cronulla on Sautrday and the winner set to receive the top honour after 26 rounds, Tripp says the league won't be taken as seriously as the AFL as a consequence of the award.
While the AFL doesn't pay out for the minor premiership, it has a stepped payment system for teams as they are knocked out of the finals, with $71,000 for the first two teams eliminated with the premiers receiving $1.2 million.
The NRL grand final winners receive $400,000, meaning if a team does the double it only takes home $500,000.
"$100,000 is embarrassing for the amount of work that goes in over the course of a pre-season and a season," Tripp told Fairfax Media.
"The prestige of winning the minor premiership has waned quite considerably and it's certainly not front of mind for a lot of clubs these days because the incentive isn't there. If they want to be seen as a peer of, and on equal footing to, the AFL, there are areas (league administrators) that need to improve in order to be taken as seriously as the AFL.
"I would dearly love to be able to reward the entire club for the amount of work that goes in over the course of those 26 rounds.
"But we have a huge payroll that are not just players, we've got an administerial roster, and $100,000 doesn't go very far."