You have to say it now looks very much like our new CEO, and whomever was on the negotiating team, hasn't exactly handled this expertly.I understand it probably makes people feel better to think that these two are being payed overs, and yes if we had both of these guys on 1mil at the club at the same time then its probably not good for the cap, but having one of these guys on 1mil + is not that big a deal in the modern game. The cap has increased significantly, and looks like it will again. You've only got to look at the teams Souths, Roosters, and Bulldogs have to know that you can put together a star studded line up even with big $$$ going to one player; SBW for example.
The cap climate has changed, and it would have been fine to have one of the two at the club on a million bucks a year. We probably panicked and tried to keep both, when we would have been better off making one a priority and offered 1.2 mil.
I honestly believe that both were unhappy at the club for various reasons, and have been for some time, so money probably wasn't going to change the result.
OR
Were they just forced into positions where they couldn't come back from by greedy players and very greedy managers.