Seriously, go back and have a look at a lot of the posts about him then tell me people on here saw this improvement in him. I'll give you some examples and i could easily put up a ton more, but this already too long post will be pages long!
At the start of 2022 not one person on here would have said he would be the best forward Queensland have, he would get player of the series and he would be playing for Australia. I was arguing with people last year when he signed his contract that he was worth the $450k a year, most thought it was too much. I think $450k was top of what he was worth then, and i think $550k is what i'd be paying him now.
Haas was on $750k a year when he had his hissy fit and wanted a million and then the extension to go up to $1.2 million in 2025. Thats a massive increase. I can pretty much guarantee Carrigan wont carry on like Haas either. I dont get why people have an issue with any player who improves their game so much getting a pretty modest pay bump after the kind of improvement Carrigan has shown and its still pretty common practice to try to tie down a player after such an improvement.
This paying the club back because you are injured is just nonsense. I get the sentiment, but Like i said, if you go that way, then you cant say he isnt worth more money when he playing like a forward on double the money and shouldnt get an increase.
The club are probably in a no win position. They dont give him an upgrade, he gets alienated. If he gets the upgrade but no extension, the fans will get the shits, but if he gets a year or 2 upgrade on what he is on now and he breaks down with injury, you get the Boyd situation again where the club gets crucified for dishing out a long, expensive contract. I still think the best option is give him the $100k and review it again at the end of 2023.