They didn't do that though, I know it's fun to shit on Souths, but they offered both a 1 year deal, Walker accepted it, Reynolds didn't. They didn't prioritise one over the other.
They had genuine reasons not to want a walking glass player for 3 years, they've had to medically retire Burgess and Inglis at significant salary cap cost and at some point you have to bite the bullet and move on. There's nothing wrong with wanting to limit liability, it's a bet that may or may not pay off.
I don't know if Souths made the wrong call, anyone claiming they have or haven't is being shortsighted. It was a call for the long term, how they fare in 2023/2024 is where anyone will know if the gamble they took pays off or was the wrong call.
For us Reynolds is a no brainer, we need the experience and leadership, for Souths not so much. They're a much more mature team having a spine of Walker/Cook/Mitchell/Illias is a pretty reasonable bet.
On the other hand our spine going into this year without Reynolds would have been Tesi/Walters/Kelly/Gamble. Pretty rubbish, so Reynolds was a must have at any cost. Even if he was to be Jack Bird and play 5 games in 3 years, his leadership, experience and smarts would be worth whatever the salary cap cost.