The NRL's transfer deadline - August 1 at 5pm - has come and gone, and clubs can now properly focus on the finals knowing exactly what their rosters look like.
With teams scrambling to fill the final spots on their roster, two player swaps occurred in the final three days of the window being open, including Oliver Gildart's loan move from the Tigers to the Roosters just two hours before the time expired.
The Tigers were involved in the other move over the last couple of days, sending out of favour winger David Nofoaluma to the Melbourne Storm on a loan deal for the remainder of the season as Craig Bellamy's side battle for a place in the top four.
The Tigers have arguably been one of the most involved club's in this year's transfer moves, also letting Luciano Leilua go to the North Queensland Cowboys, and Thomas Mikaele to the English Super League, while they managed to pick up Brent Naden from the Canterbury Bulldogs just months into his time at Belmore following the departure of Trent Barrett as head coach.
The Warriors have also been heavily involved this year, signing Daejarn Asi from the North Queensland Cowboys, and Sydney Roosters duo Freddy Lussick and Ronald Volkman, before letting go of Kodi Nikorima to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Matthew Lodge, firstly to no one, before the Sydney Roosters eventually would swoop in to secure his services.
Other club moves have seen Daniel Suluka-Fifita move from the Rabbitohs to the Roosters, and the first of the year all the way back in the opening rounds of the season, when Jamayne Isaako moved from the Brisbane Broncos to the Gold Coast Titans.
The English Super League have also gained plenty of players, with Daniel Alvaro, Jorge Taufua, Will Smith, Matt Dufty and Lachlan Lam switching immediately, along with the aforementioned Mikaele.
Sam Williams and Kevin Proctor were released without a new club to go to, while David Mead also announced his retirement effective immediately.
Every transfer move since the start of the NRL season
| Date | Player name | Club from | Club to |
| March 22 | Jamayne Isaako | Broncos | Titans |
| April 28 | Daejarn Asi | Cowboys | Warriors |
| May 5 | Daniel Alvaro | Dragons | Super League |
| May 9 | Freddy Lussick | Roosters | Warriors |
| May 9 | Ronald Volkman | Roosters | Warriors |
| May 9 | Kodi Nikorima | Warriors | Rabbitohs |
| June 18 | Brent Naden | Bulldogs | Tigers |
| June 22 | Thomas Mikaele | Tigers | Super League |
| June 23 | Luciano Leilua | Tigers | Cowboys |
| June 30 | Matthew Lodge | Warriors | Roosters |
| July 4 | Daniel Suluka-Fifita | Roosters | Rabbitohs |
| July 7 | Jorge Taufua | Sea Eagles | Super League |
| July 15 | Sam Williams | Raiders | None |
| July 20 | David Mead | Broncos | Retirement |
| July 20 | Will Smith | Titans | Super League |
| July 21 | Matt Dufty | Bulldogs | Super League |
| July 21 | Lachlan Lam | Roosters | Super League |
| July 25 | Kevin Proctor | Titans | None |
| July 29 | David Nofoaluma* | Tigers | Storm |
| August 1 | Oliver Gildart* | Tigers | Roosters |
Note: * = Loan deal for the remainder of the 2022.
On the one hand I applaud clubs for having the sense to keep some money unspent to enable them to snap up reinforcements near the end of the season, but on the other hand I feel uneasy that short-term loans made close to the end of the regular season compromise the integrity of the finals.
Maybe a compromise would be to bring forward the deadline for loans to July 1.
Or maybe the system is OK, and we should just leave it alone. For all the rumours and speculation, there has been only nine transfers between NRL clubs and two loans. All the other movements have been players leaving the NRL, which by their very nature have no impact on the competition.