Big-spending Roosters endured lean 2012 to lure big names Roosters signing Michael Jennings during his first training session with his new team at Moore Park. MICHAEL Jennings might be looking back in confusion over his exit from Penrith but he has arrived at Bondi thanks to some deliberate forward planning from Roosters officials. The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Roosters, traditionally one of the NRL's biggest spenders, went through 2012 with a playing squad $300,000 below the salary cap. The rare shortfall explains how the lucrative off-season recruitment drive was calculated, with superstar duo Sonny Bill Williams and Jennings signing on in the summer. Recruitment boss Peter O'Sullivan last night said there was space left in the cap in case another top recruit - former Warriors playmaker James Maloney - agreed to leave New Zealand a season early. But the Warriors refused to release Maloney, leaving Roosters officials with a decision to make after highly paid pair Todd Carney and Nate Myles were given premature marching orders the previous season. "We decided not to buy any players straight away because none really fit in with our plans," O'Sullivan said. Sam Perrett's mid-season departure to Canterbury cleared another $100,000, enabling the Roosters to keep a significant proportion of Maloney's 2013 salary in the previous year's cap. An increase in marquee player allowances from $300,000 to $550,000 as part of this year's $5.85 million salary cap did the rest, with the powerful Roosters board sourcing outside payments from private sponsors. Trapped between the Roosters' desire for a specialist left centre and Penrith's determination to create their own salary cap space, Jennings was still getting his head around the change of scenery before his first training session in tri-colours yesterday. He repeatedly professed a love for Penrith. "This whole time I didn't know what I was doing," Jennings said. I was thinking I would stay at Penrith. I love Penrith. Moving was never an option for me. Despite wanting to focus on the season ahead, Jennings could not hide his disappointment over comments from ex-coach Ivan Cleary, who claimed Penrith's highest-paid player did not deliver the necessary returns. "It's disappointing hearing that," Jennings said. Reading the papers (yesterday)... Ivan is entitled to his own opinion. I did everything I could at Penrith. I've got no bad blood against Penrith. I love Penrith and I still have a soft spot for them. Jennings also dismissed suggestions he was frustrated during his final two years at Penrith, which produced sporadic glimpses of his potency. "I'm not frustrated with (Panthers halfback Luke Walsh) or anything like that," he said. Under their structure ... I didn't apply myself to getting the ball.