Hook struggles to get the best out of x factor players. Has no idea how to work with them. Dufty was never going to last under him. Norman seems like the exact type of player he likes so it's a genuine shock to me that he is gone.
Was always a risk telling players mid-season to look elsewhere. You hope it lights a fire under them to try earning a new contract (like Dufty last week). But sometimes it has the opposite effect (like Dufty this week)
Dragons still have 1 more win than bottom 8 sides and a better for and against then any team they're fighting with. The competition is pretty shit this year so i can see you guys scraping into the 8 in 7th or 8th. But it likely means playing Roosters, Sea Eagles or Eels which would not work out well for you. Still. Youd rather lose a finals match than not be in one at all
Your point re telling Dufty affecting him being a risk is quite incorrect.
Dufty has always been rocks or diamonds and the number of posts on that very subject is testimony to the fact he has always been inconsistent and polarising.
He would be exactly the same player if he hadn't been told and that is the very reason why he has been told early which then allows him some time and space to prepare for his future elsewhere.
Imagine the uproar if it was left to mad Monday to tell him the pro Dufty fan base would have had a ball saying how heartless and unprofessional the club had been to a local junior.
These things are always best left to those that have expertise in the field and Hook has plenty of that as shown by the fact that many fans were getting up in arms professing that Hook was 100% going to keep Norman well now we know that notion was just that a notion.
With the way this club had been run and the slack attitude it created I think it is a very good thing that now everyone knows exactly where they stand and there are no exceptions.