This is an interesting one for me if you break it down from a number of perspectives:
The price: obviously Lodge was on far too much here in brissy with reports anyway from 600 to 850k. The real knock out punch been the two year player options i think is what pushed us to release him and from that perspective no doubt its a good decision.
The team: There's no doubt we are a weaker team without lodge. He (most of the time) provided good muscle and go forward up front and added that bit of aggression we lack. I think him and Hass were a really good starting prop combination and despite the saving of money our squad is now weaker.
The chip in: This is where it gets messy. Until now it seems like a smart decision to release lodge. However reports we could be paying up to 500k a year of his salary really sour things. There's a real uncertainty over figures but we are without a doubt contributing a decent amout to the Warriors which begs the question were we better off keeping him and paying the full salary for a guy who at least we know will give 7/10 week in week out?
The early release and lack of depth: Again this sours things a little more. We always seem to be helping clubs by releasing players early yet i can't recall a club giving us a player mid season. My big concern is our depth particularly IF we let TPJ go as well. I would argue we do not have the depth with lodge gone and carrigan and Asiata out for the season. This puts real pressure on an already over worked Hass.
Moving forward our pack really has no bite and in a team already copping continuous 40 point floggings and in wooden spoon contention is releasing lodge and possibly TPJ going to really destory our season and make us an even more uncompetitive lauging stock damaging our guys mental state even further.
The DD and Ikin element: i want to be very critical of this decision. I think removing the Lodge salary is a good move but the timing and means for which it happen is all wrong. However given the supposed brains trust of DD and Ikin im going to give them the bennefit of the doubt assume they have a plan here. Given the public scrutiny and laughing stock our RR has been i cant see them making this big a move without a solid plan. I would suggest finucane may be a priority or even a Sharon Woods or Dunamis Lui. Remembering who ever comes in is costing likely 300k extra for the removal of lodge.
Closing point: We simply cant afford to go into 2022 with a pack consisting of Hass, Carrigan, Flegler, Bullemore etc. In terms of props/locks these guys are still in nappies and they need an aggressive hard edged forward beside them. I would expect either the TPJ shop around ends and he moves back to prop or have our sites set on another top quality prop.