They never lost ANYONE they wanted to keep. Cordner & Friend retired due to injury
Cordner was under contract until end of 2023 - he retired in 2021. That's 2 and half years of savings.
Jake Friend retired with half a season as well.
Of course they're going to have cash to spend. They replaced those two with $100k minimum wage players, and front-loaded everyone else's deals.
I dare say if we had the luxury of medically retiring two rep stars on big dollars midway through contracts we wouldn't be losing anyone either. Of course if that happened we wouldn't have made 3 GFs in a row.
We're fast-tracking kids straight from Flegg and Ball, signing them to close to minimum wage deals, and by the time that deal is up they're playing for their states and countries. Of course we can't upgrade all of them!
Melbourne have shown that our model of salary cap management can produce sustained success. You pay big money for your gun players, and everyone else is replaceable and just there to plug a gap. You don't need a ready made starting prop until your existing props are going downhill or retiring. They didn't need to pay more than minimum wage for backup 1, 7 or 9 for 10 plus years while Slater, Cronk and Smith were there. We are the same.
We 100% got the timing wrong with Api and Kikau. But let's be real, the Bulldogs gambled on the salary cap being heavily increased, and got lucky. If we broke the bank for Kikau, and the salary cap didn't increase, we'd be losing a lot more than Critta and Spencer.
Sooner or later the young Panthers coming through who are getting approached by other clubs will take a look at those that have left before them and realise that it's not always greener on the other side. Very few players have improved their career prospects by leaving us.
