Sam Edmund

They've got their own lifestyle concerns and their own personal considerations.

And this one relates to Ben King's partner as he's well-known in the industry.

So he's a restricted free agent.

Gold Coast can do nothing to keep him other than match the bid.

Two-year contract's been on the table for a long time.

The terms have been set.

The terms have been agreed.

So this is something now that has lingered far longer than Gold Coast had imagined, and now it's got to the stage when you throw in Jed Walter as well and Bailey Humphrey, the hunt for him, and the list goes on.

As I said to Gary and Tim this morning, they're potentially facing their biggest retention fight since the dark old days of 2018.

They're a vastly improved club since then, don't get me wrong, but circumstances have conspired now to put them in a position where they potentially have a possible exodus here that very few of us had seen coming.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah, exactly.

It is the worst scenario.

And you put that to people and look, we're not trying to be hysterical, but there is a world where they do lose both, which is unimaginable, to be honest, when you go back a period of time that they were flush with key forwards.

Now they might end up with a bit of a problem.

So hopefully they stay for their sake and resign because otherwise that cycle just risks continuing, doesn't it?

Anything else?

That's just about it, really.

A lot of press conference today.