Catswerld, Before signing this current 3 year deal Cotton was on $600K the previous season, first full season at Perth.
No, he wasn't.
And unlike the OP, I'll tell you how I know.
I know, both professionally and socially, the accountants at the Wildcats.
As a general rule, I shouldn't and don't divulge this information, but I can't stand people making incorrect and exaggerated claims.
I can further tell you, and this may really surprise you, that generally when people on this forum talk about money, they are talking out of their ass.
What people need to appreciate is that not everybody chases maximum dollars.
The Wildcats have rarely if ever paid top dollar. The list of players who have been offered more money to play elsewhere is long. But its also why they have lost some favourites along the way. This is still the house that Nick built with Jack's money and neither was a dummy. They figured out long ago that trying to pay top dollar for individual players was never going to work particularly not in the era of a semi-enforced cap. They concentrate primarily on players who want to be part of something and in the long term this pays off for them. I'm not saying they don't spend a lot of money which they clearly do but it is spread across a lot of very good players.
Now I don't know what Kay and Norton were offered elsewhere, but my understanding at the time was that the Wildcats offer to Kay was barely equal to others, and that Norton turned down offers of a starting role.