Out of contract players are

Austin (OQ), Briscoe, Broadbent, Dwyer, Martin (OQ), Mellor, Mustapha, O’Connor, Thompson (OQ).

I would not be surprised if all but Martin leave.
I could see Briscoe and Broadbent out, with Tom Johnstone coming in.

Mellor to Cas or Wakey and an international call up!!

Could see those outgoings. Fitness wise, I think there's a big question mark over the wisdom of signing Johnstone.

Can see limited changes in season as players aren’t going to go without another club paying them and don’t see many clubs taking players on mid season.

The OOC players are easy enough it’s a decision are we keeping you or not.

Briscoe
Dwyer
Mellor
Martin
Thompson
Mustapha
Austin

I would release the above.
I can see Broadbent leaving as well and possibly O’Connor. That is 9 players from the first team squad leaving. I have said in another thread I would personally ask Prior if he wants to retire ayear early, I would ask Sezer if he wants to mutually terminate end of year and he can find another club. I personally would also get rid of Donaldson and Sutcliffe if we can find takers.

Even if it was just OOC leaving that is a fair amount of squad space, you would think some ok cap space and 3 overseas spots.

3 props - 1 overseas and two younger UK based. That gives you 6 pure props in the first team squad.
1-2 back row - one overseas back row, with one UK based. Need to make a decision about Smith at 13, I might move Bentley to 13 in a simile style to Knowles at Saints in terms of setting the line speed and wanting to Defend.
1/2 half backs - if Sezer stays then one overseas if he leaves then 2

That is a huge amount of work and manoeuvring even with a settled coach in place. Hopefully they can get somebody in or if somebody is coming end of year it is announced and they can start getting the recruitment sorted out

While we have this salary cap in place we are not going to see any top bopper forwards coming out of Oz. Read an article this morning reporting that their top props are on AUD$1m a year (Payne Haas). Even with marquee spots our clubs cant put this cash up. Best hope is a young un not being able to break in to the first team and they are only going to come over for a year, or two maximum, an older one extending his playing career or someone who has fallen out of favour for whatever reason.
Reality I'm afraid

Can't see that many going all at once, it's not workable. Expect one or two to get a year extension.

Not sure how its not workable to lose Briscoe, Donaldson, Thompson, Mustapha and Mellor. None of them add anything except an extra body to throw into the game. Austin can be replaced if we start looking now (not sure we should, but he could be). Dwyer wouldn't be needed if Johnson is fit. A big part of our ongoing problems has been re-signing hack squad players. We have quality in the squad and these repeat failures who need to be replaced - half our squad is clearly made up of players who are barely SL standard.

Just on Payne Haas, he's likely to be worth far more than the next highest paid prop because he's dynamic but also has extraordinary stamina for a big man. Of course even standard NRL props are on more than in SL, but the same is true with every position.

When we're talking about props from the NRL we need to be looking more at Ava types than stars. Kylie Leuluai was going nowhere in the NRL and wouldn't initially have cost a fortune, and he worked out quite well....

You're talking about having to replace 6 maybe 7 players in one off season... that's far from easy..

Not easy but not impossible. I'm not saying we should get rid of Austin - just that if wanted a new halfback we could get one.

Briscoe will retire anyway and we've got junior prospects who ought to be old enough to get a chance as backup (Edwards will be 19 at the start of next season). Dwyer's place in the squad would go to Johnson, and I'd keep O'Connor as backup and get him to train as a hooker. Donaldson, Thompson, Mustapha and Mellor would be replaced by two props in the squad. We already have Gannon, Martin, Bentley, Walters and Smith as genuine back row forwards.

The retention of bad players is the dumbest ongoing problem we have with our squad.