Personally I think some parts of the Club were happy to move on from Ilias end of last season, I sense JD backed him in and once it was clear JD was getting the boot then they’ve pulled the trigger on IliasThat would be a money thing though.
Ilias is on first grade halfback money. Whatever that is.
You need a guy out of favour or up and coming ideally.
Some other club could probably pick Ilias up right now on unders, but we’re in a position where if he stays, we need to honour his existing contract.
If he had some more proven versatility (and I’m not talking hooker alone, a position he’s played zero games).
He’d need to be a genuine centre, half, hooker cover option to get a spot on the bench. That’s possible but highly speculative and would need to be a genuine plan that club, coach and player buy in on. He probably still wants to be an NRL 7. Not a utility.
If you want to keep Ilias, it means Dodd’s money comes out of Burgess’ contract.
So what do you want more? A genuine prop recruit? Or Ilias as a backup half?
Considering you still have a couple of other moves to make, I’d be looking for more value out of Ilias’ spot on the roster.
Just speculation