NRL boss Todd Greenberg insists the Cronulla salary cap investigation won’t sully the looming finals series, declaring the club more than $500,000 under the cap this season.

The NRL integrity unit is investigating the Sharks after they self-declared alleged undeclared third party deals dating back to 2015, the year before they won their maiden premiership.

Publicity surrounding the probe is a black eye for the game just over a week out from the finals.

However, Greenberg was at pains to play down the magnitude of any breach on Wednesday, stressing the case wasn’t on the scale of those that brought hefty penalties on Parramatta, Manly and Melbourne in recent years, not did there appear to be a systematic approach to cheating.

The Eels were stripped of competition points in 2016 after they were found to have topped up players’ salaries via illegal third party deals.

Greenberg indicated there wasn’t a chance that the Sharks would cop a similar penalty, meaning their place in the finals wasn’t at risk.

“Having looked at the Sharks’ numbers this morning, they are significantly below the salary cap for 2018,” Greenberg said.

“That number that they’re below the salary cap is significant and I’m talking more than half a million dollars they are underneath the salary cap in 2018.”

While Greenberg could not put a time frame on completing the investigation, he hinted the NRL would come down hard on the club and people involved if they were found guilty.

“Punishments, as example to the Manly club – (fined $750,000 in March, with their cap reduced for two years) – have this year no doubt affected the roster and they will have implications on that roster next year,” Greenberg said.

“People who have made poor decisions, some have lost their livelihoods in the game, their accreditation and ability to work in the game.

“As the cap has gone up and the grants have gone up, the imposition of fines hasn’t kept pace.

“That’s something the commission has asked me to look at at the end of this year – do we need to have additional penalties over and above what historically has happened.”

Third-party agreements are the recurring factor in NRL salary cap breach scandals.

“We will re-look at third-party agreements and how they are being shaped in the game but what I can tell you is they are scaling down the number of third-party agreements being registered year on year,” Greenberg said.