Hiku - surplus to requirements, had injuries and from memory was potentially linked to Manly's spot fixing investigations;
TMM - not sure why we released him. Perhaps punted on Edwards at FB as better option than TMM at 5/8.
Latu - released following Jimmy giving the game away re TPA.
Rein - was with us on minimal dollars and getting limited opportunity given Wallace, Katoa and now Egan.
Bryce - reasons have been done ad nauseum (please don't make me go back there
)
Moylan - refer to Bryce.
My point being that I'm not sure any of these are directly attributable to Tamou.
I tend to agree Tamou would be in the 600k - 750k range, although not sure what amounts are TPA and what is on the cap. There were definitely more clubs than ours interested at the time.
Would not surprise me if Gus paid a bit of a premium as at the time of signing our pack was looking very young and inexperienced. We lacked any sort of experienced leadership (i.e. finals, origin, premiership), had young halves and backs and Gus probably saw Tamou as someone to lead in the trenches.
I don't think anyone disputes 2017 was not what we expected from Tamou. However, 2018 is 2 games old and seems a bit early to be making snap judgements on a players value for money. Particularly where that player's metres can be influenced through minutes played and the flow of possession.
Is Tamou worth the cash? If we win a comp in the next couple of years - absolutely! It may also be similar to when the club brought blokes like Chris Mortimer to the club in the late 80s. He wasn't here to win the comp for the club but instead to set the level of professionalism (and in those days, true aggression) for the younger guys coming through that won the 1991 comp.