100%, it just needs to be handled well by the club, explain there reasons and announce 2/3 signings at the same time

Smith said everyone had a clean slate and he would assess things , but looks like he has already made up his mind regarding Connor.
Pearson probably wanted someone with a more ruthless streak and not have a coach with a team full of his pals , which I think was an accusation against some former coaches.

You need to move players on before bringing any in , so Connors departure fits in there.
Not sure what , if any transfer fee he would command , you only have to look at the Toby King situation for a comparison.

I'd imagine it would be just a swap with Wardle tbh.

We'd have some more wiggle room on the cap. I'd guess Wardle will be on less money than Connor

That's right , you've also got the quota space available which makes things interesting but probably not enough cap space for a higher end player with just Connor moved on.

Craig Harrison has said that Connor is on around 200k - marquee style money. If so, freeing up 200k probably gives you Wardle and Longstaff, with some money to spare. If Griffin goes, who is definitely on 100k plus, that gives you hopefully a decent 7

Sill think we would be light in the second row unless Carlos moves there but I'm not entirely convinced that is a good idea.

It's complicated matters that if Connor goes we surely have to replace him with a NRL half back and don't have the luxury of a quota spot for second row.

Need to be signings that enhance the team and not just fillers
dont think the likes of Wardle and Lawrence would do that.
Priority is at least one big mobile second row,two would be better and add some real speed on a wing

Tony Smith has a long history of getting rid of controversial players. Not surprised if he’d want rid of Connor