Kinda agree with most of the posts on this thread. They're all valid.
The big issue I have with letting him go is that he's used the media to put us over a barrel. I hate that managers will do this these days. I'd hope the club stick to their guns and don't let him go without ready replacements of quality players to bring in.
If he plays hardball and sticks with the personal issues story I don't see why the club shouldn't say to him that he doesn't have to play for us. But he has to sign off on a deal where he sits out two years, we pay him minimal wage to free up the cap space while he sits out on money that the average joe (non footballers specifically). He can move wherever the hell he wants unless he decieds that $800k is worth being an adult and dealing with his issues, rather than having to drop back to say $40k per year and living somewhere that these personal issues don't affect him. I find it hard to imagine personal issues that he'll have in Sydney that wouldn't also be present in Newcastle. Is he not able to cope with traffic in Sydney? I'm struggling to think what issues that life in Sydney would present that wouldn't also confront him in newcastle.
I honestly don't care if we lose him. As has been mentioned elsewhere, his go forward is great but he's noit a creative enough player to demand money that a top line half is worth. Taumololo at 1 million breaks games with more that just hard running which is what Klemmer offers in barrel loads, but Taumololo offers creativity along with it. But he doesn't offload well and doesn't even make a habit of smashing players in defense. We could buy a 400k player that runs hard and spend the spare cash elsewhere. He's a good player but he's honestly on great coin if the $800k rumours have any validity. We have salary cap issues because we overpaid too many forwards in the past and couldn't splash enough money around to attract the better spine players that we need. I just hope we don't release him without having first lined up some players to bolster our weak spots in the squad. A hooker with a crisp passing game is a must. It just means our first receiver can hit pace before getting the ball and our halves and backs have a small amount more time to make decisions (like do they draw defenders and pass, kick the ball or hit a weak spot in defense). Dummy half running is over-rated as far as I'm concerned and Lichaa wants to play out his career with that pretty much being his only skill. If he hasn't developed a decent passing game by the start of the season I would assume that he's not bothering and/or isn't good enough.
I just hope the club manage to turn this bucket of shit we're facing into something that doesn't smell as bad. The issue is that the better players are already locked up, so the timing is absolutely shithouse for us.
