Greg Inglis' decision to extend his stay with Melbourne was helped by the NRL looking into the possibility of third party sponsorship from government indigenous programs.

Inglis has announced he will remain with the Storm until the end of 2012 on a deal rumoured to be worth $2 million.

The NRL's salary cap restricts clubs to spending $4.1 million per year on players, but some of the game's biggest names earn more through third party sponsors.

The collapse of third party deals was blamed by St George Illawarra's Mark Gasnier when he decided to quit the Dragons for French rugby union.

Asked if the NRL had helped ensure Inglis would not join the likes of Gasnier and Sonny Bill Williams in switching codes and countries, Inglis' manager Allan Gainey told AAP: "We've got ongoing stuff in regard to possible third parties.

"He's obviously going to put himself in a good position to take advantage of that, especially through the indigenous side of things."

Asked if any third party deals were set in concrete, Gainey said: "There undoubtedly will be but it's all ongoing.

"It had a great bearing on it (the contract) because there's certainly a limit to what you can do under the salary cap.

"The NRL are working on some avenues with a lot of players, especially with the indigenous things, there's things at government level that come into play and I think that will all evolve in the next six months or so."

NRL chief executive David Gallop denied the league had assisted the Storm with the Inglis deal, but confirmed that opportunities within government programs were on the horizon.

"We've indicated that we'll do what we can to help him with any third party agreements that are out there," Gallop told AAP.

"He's got a particular interest in indigenous issues and there's some opportunities on that front.

"He's already part of a number of our indigenous initiatives.

"We're the only sport that have got a reconciliation action plan registered with Reconciliation Australia and he's been part of that."

Gallop said the league would also keep an eye on corporate sponsorship possibilities.

"Individual endorsements are not as available as some people want to make them out to be," he said.

Gallop said he explained personally to Inglis the importance of the salary cap.

"Terry Campese is just as important to the Raiders as Greg Inglis is to the Storm and equally you could say that about Chris Sandow at Souths," Gallop said.

"There's a range of players who aren't in the top five players in the game who are really critical to their club's future and if you start granting salary cap exceptions for the elite players those clubs are entitled to have a gripe."

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