Brandon Smith's days as a Sydney Roosters player are numbered.
That is the clear knock-on effect of the club announcing the signing of Reece Robson on a mega four-year deal this week.
His departure from the North Queensland Cowboys came as something of a surprise, but the lure of returning to Sydney to play for one of the competition's glamour clubs - likely for more money than the Cowboys were offering - was simply too good to refuse.
And what it means is that 2025 will be Brandon Smith's last season at the tri-colours.
Off-season at the end of the campaign, and aiming to return from an ACL injury during the first half of it, the timing realistically couldn't be worse for Smith, who will go into a contract year unable to play any rugby league.
That, after two seasons at the Roosters, where he hasn't lived up to the level he was expected to after being signed from the Melbourne Storm.
But there are plenty of clubs who need a dummy half, and for his faults, Smith did show enough, particularly in the second half of 2024, to suggest he can, in fact, cut it as a dummy half in the NRL.
So, here are five clubs who will want to make a play for the off-contract Rooster.
Maybe this is too obvious, and maybe it just won't work either. Smith certainly seemed less than interested in relocating to Townsville when he spoke about his future on the Bye Round Podcast with James Graham recently.
But if the Cowboys - where Smith spent time previously before his NRL debut - put the best offer on the table, it will be intriguing to see whether Smith takes it.
The New Zealand international wants to play as a starting dummy half, and there is realistically no doubt he would be doing just that in Townsville following the loss of Robson.
Again, Smith is likely the only person who will stand in the way of this becoming a straight-player swap.
It would be fair to say no one is sold on the hooking situation in Canberra.
While Tom Starling is still at the club alongside Danny Levi, both players are off-contract at the end of the 2025 campaign.
It has been reported previously that Levi would be out the door at the end of 2024, so that he is still contracted is an eyebrow-raiser, while Starling has been reduced to a very effective bench role in recent times.
That all said, signing Smith may well be on the radar for the Raiders. The club have publically revealed they aren't interested, but Ricky Stuart also once claimed former Penrith Panthers second-rower Zac Hosking wouldn't be joining for the current season before doing just that two weeks later.
The Newcastle Knights could well be the ideal location for Smith if he wants to be a starting number nine in the NRL.
The issue here is that the Knights haven't been able to keep Jayden Brailey on the field, and have since reportedly tapped him on the shoulder to ask him if he'd find a new home.
Phoenix Crossland has done a strong job at dummy half too in recent times, while the Knights have also signed Matt Arthur from the Parramatta Eels, who will be a star of the future, but for the time being, it feels as if there is a gap in the system.
That's where Smith could slot in. It might be a short-term deal, but Smith wouldn't be that far out of Sydney, and could try to revitalise his career alongside Kalyn Ponga.
The Manly Sea Eagles have spoken at times about their desire to add another dummy-half option alongside Lachlan Croker.
They are starting to do just that now through Gordon Chan Kum Tong, and also signed Jamie Humphreys from the South Sydney Rabbitohs ahead of 2025, but that doesn't mean things are totally settled.
What has become clear is that Croker, who missed a chunk of the 2024 season with injury, needs more support in the number nine from players who are ready to go at NRL standard today.
Smith may not start at Manly, but he would be able to play a mix of hooker and lock, and work alongside some of the NRL's most involved players, including Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans, which could well be a catalyst to take his game to the next level.
Ultimately, more than simply being a starting hooker, that is what Smith needs in his next contract.
If I'm the Gold Coast Titans, I'm throwing the book at Brandon Smith.
Sam Verrills and Chris Randall have simply not worked at dummy half, and it would take a brave man to suggest Des Hasler won't get something near the best out of Smith.
The Titans have salary cap constraints, though - that much is clear. Big deals for David Fifita and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui lead the way, while exuberant amounts of money are also littered throughout the squad on the likes of AJ Brimson, Jayden Campbell, Beau Fermor, Kieran Foran and Moeaki Fotuaika, among others.
If they can overcome that hurdle, though, Smith is the sort of player they would like to bring in. Crafty, tenacious and with a winning attitude, it's the latter the Titans lack plenty of, and that was on show during a disappointing 2024 campaign.
The Eels are frankly a little rudderless at hooker, and with Joey Lussick off-contract at the end of 2025, and Brendan Hands a year later, it could be the ideal opportunity for the Eels to shake things up.
Whether Smith is the sort of player they want remains to be seen, but Jason Ryles has shown no hesitation in getting aggressive on the transfer market since he was confirmed as the man to take over from Brad Arthur.
Whether that came in the form of the play for Josh Addo-Carr, or Bulldogs youngster Joash Papalii, he has worked hard to shape the squad he wants.
The Eels simply haven't been the same at the number nine since the departure of Reed Mahoney, and it's a position they need to fill.
A risk on Smith could be the way to go.