Sione is better than at least half of our present team. If we can't find a spot for him next year it means we have either signed 8 to 10 better players than we have now, or a heap of players have improved.
We'd need a salary cap of about 12 million if our 18th best was worth 500k.
If every player was interchangeable, you’d have a point, but Sione’s probably limited to centre or second row meaning there’s only maybe 5 openings in the 17 for him. Granted, he does have some versatility if coming off the bench. IMO, that maybe the ideal role for him. Bench backrower with some position flexibility.
But to further my point, he’s not better than Ramien or a healthy Moga, so he likely loses his centre spot. I guess they could move him back to second row full time, but we do have Fitzgibbon, Guerra and Barnett there. Again, possible utility off the bench? But there’s Levi and Buhrer is already on the outer for seemingly not having a true role or position within the team. I don’t think that would happen with Sione as they’ve just re-signed him, so they must have a plan, but still...
It wouldn’t take 8-10 new signings or huge internal improvements for him to not make the top 17. Very unlikely that ultimately happens, but if Moga returns healthy and we sign a backrower or Stone shows something to finish out the year, he could be fighting for the final 1-2 bench spots.
Also, if we paid $500K for Sione, we paid massive overs IMO. I’m far from a Sione hater, but he’s limited, doesn’t seem to have a true position and doesn’t necessarily possess any top tier traits. He’s kind of a jack of all trades, master of none type of player.