But that is a known thing, he already doesn't count towards next years cap which Kikau and Reed put them over apparently.
In theory they have 10 open roster spots for next season so NRL is looking at Reed and Kikau contracts and saying either
"8 min wage contracts plus these puts you over", or even worse could be "9 min wage contracts + even one of these puts you over"
If it is the first one and there isn't much in it they can be okay, if there is a decent amount of money they need to find they are gunna struggle.
Potentially they are in an absolute hole because even if they can move a couple guys like Thompson, TPJ, Flanju, Allen that just opens up another min wage contract and they have the likes of King, Dufty, Vaughan, Wakeham, RFM all who could arguably be important keeps who they likely can't afford to retain most, or maybe all of.
Plus I'd assume they are paying 100-250k towards each of the guys they move on which means 1-2 starting quality players worth of money not in their budget. If they are a decent amount off affording Reed and Kikau they are in danger of having around 20 players on minimum wage or close to it.
Compare that to our Signings Re-Signings thread where I spelt out how it is pretty viable we can keep almost everyone we want. And how a small sacrifice (like just letting Williams and Hunt both take up better offers) can help put us in a good spot for the year after even.
But who knows, could just be a number like 100k holding up both contracts and they can restructure* to make it work, or shift just someone like Allen by paying half his contract at new club.
*Maybe Jackson would drop wage to 500k if it came with another two or three years?
