When a player off contract at the end of the season comes to club management half way through the year and says 'Match xyz A-League club's offer or I'm off.' And management can't - cause they are too close to the cap or the player is worthwhile but not worth more, management then have a massive opportunity to make money by selling the player overseas. So they do.
This happened when Jade North signed with the Fury and Newcastle bettered the deal with some Korean won. The same process, at least started, when Adam Griffiths signed with Gold Coast. And the same with Shane Smeltz being signed by Gold Coast.
It is clear, particularly for under-performing teams, as soon as a player announces another club is prepared to pay more, his club is incentivised - with nothing to lose - to sell him o/s. They just aren't going to have him next year anyway. Better to get him overseas and make something from the deal. Rather than nothing and having him play against you - a massive anti-fan move.
Jade North even put in in his contract - the Fury were cheesed because they thought Jade meant in principle, one day, he would leave within his 2 years - not before he even got there. Still Fury now have an even better deal with Fowler and perhaps Chipperfield.
Whether other contract selling post a player signing a transfer to an A-League hold up is yet to be tested. And who better to test it than Clive Palmer.
On a side issue, just why Newcastle seem to be emptying their decks is a real question.
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