Desperate clubs also pay overs. You’ll note most of our players don’t have contract options. Why do some have them? You think we were only desperate to keep those ones? We could’ve just paid them more.
We could very well be paying overs and offering POs.
I would say that the PO heavy contracts (Brown, Moses, Matto, Penisini, Talagi) have all come after Mahoney, Niukore, Papalli, Kaufusi, Stone etc left the club. Players like RCG, Paulo etc don't have POs cause they re signed 2021 prior all those guys leaving.
I think the club panicked (understandability), and decided they needed to do what ever it took to get the deals done. The Brown and Talagi contracts are just odd and look like the player having all the power at the negotiating table.
If the PO offered the kind of salary cap efficiency you claim it does you'd see it more frequently in the league. The Panthers for example, their roster is being torn apart by the Dogs and Tigers atm, yet they don't have a single contract with a PO.
The Lomax contract has no clauses in it even though they asked for a head coach clause. I've also read the club will be moving away from these clauses so it will be interesting to see the simonson contract.