The Gale thing has been inevitable since he was stripped of the captaincy!
Then we went and signed Sezer and then Austin!
The club obviously wanted rid imo

As I say, no way was Gale going to sit in the stands waiting for an injury to Sezer or Austin.

But he wasn’t going to be sitting in the stands. According to all the interviews coming out of Agar, Austin was not signed as an out and out HB and was going to play a utility role. For what it’s worth I didn’t know how/if that was going to work in practice, but that was the plan the club had put out in the public domain.....and now we obviously have a major ‘U’ turn and Austin will now be one of the HBs all season, injuries permitting.

I wouldnt read too much into what was said at the time we signed Austin...Agar was never going to say publicly that Austin was signed to replace Gale while Gale was at the club, it seems we released him without much fuss or fee which suggests Austin/Sezer was always the plan.

Gale was marquee and home grown and as such only releases £75k on the cap, regardless of what his actual salary was. Although it releases funds it doesn't release that much cap. So unless we had room on the cap anyway I can't see how we could sign a big earner. I suppose it depends how we use the marquee allocation from here onwards

Good point. The club absolutely didn't intend for this to happen which is why it's such a blow. It really has the potential to undermine all the carefully laid plans for next year to be a big one. Totally reliant on Sezer remaining fit now.

Yeah ok

Excellent point. It's a large dollop off the wage bill not a huge amount off the cap. Gale divided opinions since the day he was signed, but I do think it's a significant blow to our chances of success next season. I don't think this was part of any grand plan. Would we have let McLelland go if that was the case?

It's 100%. They remained committed to the three half back strategy to absolutely gold plate next year's squad. It's been undermined before we've even started.

And things change, Gale obviously wanted out, what were we supposed to do?

Gale didn’t offer anything last year, and poor attitude aswell. Think a new direction for both parties is best solution.

At this point we don't have evidence that Gale wanted out or the club wanted him to leave, or neither.

Apparently werve offered Dylan Napa a deal but looks likely to be going to Catalan.

Not sure how wed manage to get that over the line with no quota spots left

If true, encouraging that we are looking at that level of player.
Presume we would look to move Thompson on?!?

We havnt just created 75k worth of cap, we'v also opened up a marquee which gives us flexibility with the cap.

Without knowing players wages, say we'r paying fusitua or sezer 190k, we can now put Gales marquee status to one of them wages thus saving 40k on the cap, added to Gales 75k saved that gives us 115k.

Thats Just an example, but the 75k plus the Marquee spot opened up gives a decent amount of wiggle regarding the cap.

There arnt many good non quota props about so Our full quota is a bigger problem ,unless we can shift Thompson aswel.

Has that been reported somewhere?

Matt shaw on twitter said Telegraph in Aus reported it

Which might be doable. He'd be a decent signing for certain sides if we made a contribution to his running costs

Hate to say this but might we have an unsettled Tetevano?

Few twists and turns this off-season eh? I am sure we could encourage Thompson somewhere else if needed. He’s been good back up but with respect not at the stage of his career where he’ll be adding value as an OS player.

Hmm not so sure.I think if that was the case thee would have been rumours both here and in Aus,AFAIK there hasnt been any.I agree about Thompson and if the club wanted i'm sure they could move him on to a lower SL team who has a quota place.

I don’t think there’s anything to suggest Tetevano is unsettled he’s not even gone back home in the off season, they’re in holiday with some if the other players

Yeh, no evidence.
Just seems strange that we would be looking at a top level Aussie prop when we have no quota spots available.
And we have history with Merrin and Ava....
Hope you're right.

Csnt see there being any truth to Napa rumour. Every player Catalans are linked with we seem to get thrown in the mix and vice versa.

Maybe we are just trying to increase the salary they’ll have to agree…

Dont think we are but his agent will be.