After a week in the spotlight following the biggest decision of his career, Brian To'o went back to work.

His showing in the Panthers' 12-6 loss to the Roosters was typical of the To'o we've come to know.

The future Papua New Guinea Chief did not bring up his 100th try for the Panthers but did churn through 17 runs for 162 metres to go with five tackle busts and two line breaks. For some wingers that's a big night but for To'o it's the standard.

The performance came in the days following confirmation of To'o's move to the Papua New Guinea Chiefs and it shouldn't have been a surprise.

There are good reasons To'o has become the premier winger of his time, and having such a high baseline is one of them.

Continued excellence on his part, for both the rest of this season and his final year with Penrith in 2027, is as close to a given as you'll find anywhere in rugby league.

He is the best player the Chiefs have signed but that may not remain so. Not since the Broncos filled their boots with Queensland-based stars for their inaugural season in 1988 has an expansion team signed so much established talent.

Of the six players to commit to the Chiefs, four have played State of Origin in the past two years. Some clubs go decades without signing one or two players who fit such a criteria.

The other two are the greatest try-scorer the Australian game has ever known and one of England's top front-rowers.

Unless Joseph Manu was just in Port Moresby on holiday, it seems likely they'll add the Golden Boot winner from the most recent World Cup to the list before long.

They have achieved all this without really entering the cut and thrust of the transfer market in earnest. Officially, the Chiefs cannot talk to any NRL free agents for the 2028 season until November 1 this year.

Each of the signings they've made within the NRL have come because a club granted permission for the player in question to negotiate early or because the player activated something in their contract that allowed them to do so.

They've done all this while the luxury compound they're building is still a hole in the ground and before they have a logo or a jersey. To'o himself hasn't even been to Papua New Guinea before.

They're yet to land any young legs but if these are the players they can sign through the activation of obscure clauses and arcane options and the like, imagine what they can do in the jungle of true free agency when they have the biggest and sharpest teeth via their mountain of government funding?

With local products like Gairo Voro, Morea Morea and Finlay Glare, all of whom are enjoying standout seasons with London Broncos and will eventually take up development contracts with the club, to fill out the other end of the roster, the Cheifs can keep aiming high.

The floodgates have yet to truly open but already the ripples of the league's new money-monster are clear to see.

Hudson Young, fresh off a career-changing State of Origin series, is in the Chiefs' sights and despite the Raiders offering just about everything they've got to a player who has found a home in Canberra, fans there are turning as green as their jerseys because they know there's a chance they'll be money-whipped.

The spectre of similar moves loom over a sport addicted to transfer gossip and sank into Thursday's top-of-the-table clash because after the start they've made, no player seems out of reach for the Chiefs.

Not Sam Walker, who turned down the Roosters first contract offer midweek and has the chance to secure untold riches over the final stages of this season, a chance he has surely enhanced after a mature performance that helped put the Tricolours on top of the ladder.

Not Liam Martin, who rattled Cody Ramsey with the best shot of the night or Spencer Leniu, who struggled to find the fire against his former club and looks like he'd benefit from a change of scenery.

Not even Nathan Cleary, who tried every trick he knew but could not break down a resolute Roosters defensive line.

As impossible as it seems to picture him playing rugby league in anything but a Penrith jersey, even he is in play.

Through their tax-free contracts and the legitimacy that comes with signing established stars, the Chiefs have the capability to tip the entire league on its head.

They can pay a battler like a prince, a prince like a king and a king like a god and given they've already shown a taste for the finer things in assembling their roster, there's little reason to expect it won't continue.

Their advantages warp the salary cap beyond recognition and each signing they make is further proof of concept that the gold rush is real.

General manager of football Michael Chammas says he wears it as a badge of honour that clubs are beginning to gripe at the advantages PNG have been given and well may he, given how those clubs, blinded by the glittering of gold, let a Chief into the henhouse.

It is hard to begrudge any player for taking what's on offer, like it's hard to begrudge the way Chammas and the Chiefs are going about it. They're playing by the rules they've been given and they're playing by them well.

Ever since Jarome Luai was announced as their first signing, their power has become more and more real and it continues to solidify with every signing they make. Now, they are securing a firm foothold on the high side of an uneven surface.

To'o is the latest, but not the last and rugby league is only just beginning to reckon with the power of what the NRL has created with its concessions to the Chiefs and how it alters the competitive balance of the league.

They have turned the dial as far as it will go and are now waiting to see what happens next, as is their way, and it is happening hard and fast all around us.

The downpour of money is a monsoon that shows no sign of breaking, even as rival clubs get swamped.

And stars like To'o who have been swept along are still just the start. Expect plenty more to dive in.