Decent halves are hard to come by. And I think Sexton is definitely a decent half. Just needs the chance to thrive IMO. So as much as I confidently believe this is just pure rumour, I'll throw out an opinion. Unless it was Sexton asking for a release, I'd not entertain the idea without being able to talk with whichever of their players were willing to discuss moving.
Fair swaps rarely happen in the NRL. A lot of these situations see a struggling team lose a player that can be influential for them to a stacked team where that player is just a bench upgrade. It's far too common that the team releasing a good player gets shafted these days.
It's the rock and a hard place situation. Do you keep an unhappy player that might drag the attitude down or let them go and hope that someone else decent becomes available without having to pay massive overs. It's a pity these deals can often create additional imbalance between rosters. And in cases where it hits the media it can be disruptive to the team too.
I used to work with a former Brisbane cop that knew insiders at the Broncos. If his info was right, the Broncos actually planned with Dugan to get sacked from the raiders. All went to plan with that until Dugan mouthed off at fans on social media and the Broncos deal fell through. They then moved on to Barba. They got him and refused to even release that very average winger who's name I forget in exchange for the most exciting fullback of that time.
I think moving forward if players want a release to a specific club, that club needs to open up the possibility to negotiate with any contracted player willing to test their worth with the club giving up the player. Even if it meant they got a gun 17 yo that was a few years off NRL, it's not the kick in the nuts of losing a player with nothing gained. But the NRL doesn't seem capable of working out strategies to fairly distribute talent or to make it easier for clubs to retain juniors they've nurtured to the big stage.
