Another possibility: the club by club scores were based on 36 being in the top three echelons. There are only 35 now. An according adjustment of the scores out of a maximum score for this area would see ALL remaining clubs get slightly more points - the gap place on place, however, would increase infinitessimally.

That, for Bongser, would be an excusable mid-season tweak.

Degsy says that three NRL players have been signed.

INOUT

Tesi Niu, Isaac Liu and Ben Condon. Might have to go shopping for a half back now as well.

I was always baffled why we didn’t revert to Moylan at 6 knowing Armstrong will more than likely be 1 next year, simply to get The Lam/Moylan combo working. Perhaps it’s been known for a while by the club should it turn out to be true. Also I remember prior to signing Ricky was a big influence in him coming , maybe that hasn’t helped.
If the wages are as rumoured we won’t struggle to fill with a class act

Yeah, I'm assuming the decision to retire hasn't been made on whim, and has been spoken about for a while. Could also explain the Sivo rumours a few weeks back. Could be an option considering O'Brien has gone well for us at half back during the business end of the season, all on a fraction of what Moylan has been on.