There is absolutely zero dispute right now that Penrith Panthers star halfback Nathan Cleary is no guarantee to remain at the club beyond the end of 2027.
That's not saying he is a certainty to leave, but with his father Ivan hanging up the coaching clipboard, Nathan admitting he is thinking about testing the market, his fiancee living abroad, Penrith's salary cap stretched and just maybe the thought of another challenge lingering in the back of his mind, a Cleary squared departure from the club's match day operations is certainly not off the table.
Sometimes in rugby league, things are a coincidence, and sometimes, they are not.
The fact Nathan Cleary has been talking about the potential of heading to November 1 uncontracted for the first time in his career for a couple of months now coincides roughly with the timeline of when his father would have been talking about, and ultimately decided, to not continue coaching, is not one of the times a coincidence has occurred.
If Cleary does decide to up sticks and leave the foot of the mountains, there are plenty of clubs who will chase his signature, but some potential homes stand out more than the rest.
Here are the options for Cleary.
1. PNG Chiefs
If Cleary does decide to leave the Panthers, the PNG Chiefs may well have the best chance of any NRL club to land him.
It has to be noted the Chiefs are operating under the same salary cap as everyone else in that they won't just be able to go and buy a stack of million-dollar players, but they could very easily offer $1.2 million and have an advantage over rival clubs offering a couple of hundred thousand dollars more.
It would certainly appear that if Cleary is to leave the Panthers, and indeed based on the going rate for other elite talents around the competition, then a million and a half or more (or the equivalent of that in PNG terms) is going to be the going rate.
Cleary, on a personal level, would also be able to link back up with Jarome Luai who he won four premierships with at the foot of the mountains, and potentially other current Penrith teammates who could be on the move.
It's certainly a potential move to watch with interest.
