NRL chief executive David Gallop is standing by the NRL's original assessment of Melbourne Storm's rorting of the salary cap, even though an investigation by accountants Deloitte found the findings to be way off.

Although he acknowledged that the original penalties imposed on the Storm could have been higher had the full extent of the rort been known, Gallop ruled out a review of the penalty.

"We're not considering doing that at this point," Gallop said on Thursday.

"We've obviously got to focus on their 2011 position and we've imposed the penalties we thought were appropriate for the previous years."

"The penalties were based on what we knew at the time and they are 100 per cent appropriate for protecting the best interests of the game."

The Deloitte's forensic audit revealed on Thursday the breaches from 2006-2010 amounted to $3.17 million - 83 per cent higher than the NRL's initial estimate of $1.735m.

"This was a level of deception that was extraordinary, but to the extent that the breaches that we uncovered were massive, it's largely irrelevant to us how much bigger they are," Gallop said.

"We took our action on what we knew and we're 100 per cent comfortable with the action we took."

According to a News Limited media release, the total amount of the salary breach estimated by the investigation could be even higher due to the lack of cooperation from Storm players, managers and other third parties involved.

But the prospect of an even bigger rort being uncovered would not affect the action already taken by the NRL, Gallop said.

"The NRL issued its penalties on the basis of the breaches that the club and Dr Rob Moodie (an ex-director of the Storm) openly admitted to," he said.

"Dr Moodie, on behalf of his board, publicly accepted the penalties imposed."

"The fact that the breaches go beyond even those admissions is an indictment on the directors who are overseeing the club and a chairman who signed statutory declarations that the club was complying with the salary cap."

News Limited chairman John Hartigan revealed on Thursday the four independent directors on the Melbourne board Moodie, Petra Fawcett, Peter Maher and Gerry Ryan had been sacked earlier in the day.

Hartigan also identified five managers, Brian Waldron, Matt Hanson, Paul Gregory, Peter O'Sullivan and Cameron Vale, who were directly involved in transactions that resulted in the breaches.

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