Good clubs re-sign their stars when they hit the market. Great clubs stagger their off-contract stars so they aren't overloaded when they hit the market.
It's why Parramatta, for the second consecutive season, have fumbled their most talented players as they wrestle over who to retain, and who is lower on their list of priorities.
The past 12 months is a prime example for where it's all gone wrong for Parramatta.
Again, the club decided to have half the spine off-contract in the same season as they do now, as well as the majority of their starting forward pack, meaning the Eels had to prioritise who to re-sign first, and who to leave on the market while they assessed their finances.
Top priority was captain Clint Gutherson, who they re-signed on an upgraded three-year extension.
It cost them Reed Mahoney, who was reportedly offered $150,000 less per season to stay at Parramatta than head to Canterbury.
They also managed to keep Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Junior Paulo and Ryan Matterson beyond this year.
Yet they've lost Marata Niukore, Ray Stone, Oregon Kaufusi and most importantly, Isaiah Papalii, a Dally M Second-Rower of the Year winner in 2021.
Now both Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown are off-contract and free to negotiate with rivals for the 2024 season, a calamity on the Brad Arthur's hands.
Have a look at the Manly Sea Eagles in 2015.
Coming off a 2014 season that saw Manly finish the regular season in 2nd, both Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran were off-contract at the end of 2015, and it wreaked havoc on their season.
News broke hours before their first game of the season that Foran was departing on a big-money deal for Parramatta, creating internal turmoil.
The Sea Eagles, who had made the last ten consecutive finals series, missed the post-season for the first time since 2004, and have won just two finals games since.
It broke the club.
South Sydney were less disastrous but similar none the less.
Both premiership winning halves in Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary were off-contract at the end of 2015 as well, however the club did manage to re-sign both and stagger the deals, Keary off at the end of 2016 while Reynolds extended to the end of 2017.
They had to shed Dylan Walker, Chris McQueen and Issac Luke to accomodate them.
You simply can't have both halves off-contract in the same year anymore, especially quality ones like Brown and Moses.
There's such a shortage on genuine creative and dominant halves in the NRL today, meaning struggling clubs will throw big bucks at the halves just to tie them up long term.
The Wests Tigers are mulling over offering Moses one of the richest deals in NRL history while the Dolphins have said they'll offer Brown a million dollars a season, and are happy to raise the figure if rivals match it.
Parramatta have plunged from a Grand Final appearance into a rebuild, and it looks set to cost them an international-quality half, if not two, purely down to poor roster management.
The Eels' premiership-window is slamming shut at a rapid rate, and it seems a few stars will look to jump out before the window hits the sill.
