If the reports of Mannah playing on in 2020 are true, and Robbie and Benji do the same, it's becoming clearer that Madge is prepared to cover some freight on Packer, Reynolds and whoever else to get them off the books.
The value these guys provide vs the dollars they are on, covers the shortfall on any players we release.
Smart move in my opinion.
The way I've understood it is this:
Total cap is $9.6 million. These 3 guys wouldn't take up more than $500k - $600k in total and they will play first grade.
That leaves $9 million for 27 players.
4 players will be development players at $105,000 minimum wage - $420,000.
Now we're at $8.58 million for 23 players.
Gets us out of a fair bit of strife.