The Dolphins have spent much of the week in the news, with the NRL's 17th club facing their biggest challenge since they first joined the NRL in the lead-up to November 1.
Kristian Woolf and his staff have built one of the NRL's most talented - and most exciting - playing rosters over the last few years, but as it stands, the club have a staggering 15 players off-contract at the end of 2027.
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Included in that list are a number of top-tier stars who could be in for significant pay bumps. Guys who signed their last deal as a relative unknown, and are now either representative players, or banging on the door of being so.
One of those is Jack Bostock, with the towering centre and winger earning a call up to the NSW Blues side during this year's State of Origin series.
The Dolphins star is one of a few who it has been indicated will be testing the open market on November 1, and while the club have expressed that they want to keep everyone, the simple, cold hard reality of the situation is that it seems unlikely.
With rising salaries, the threat of expansion clubs and tax-free dollars from PNG, and the player pool becoming skinnier compared to the number of spots available as the NRL line up three years of back-to-back-to-back expansion, someone, or potentially multiple players, are going to leave the Redcliffe-based club.
With that in mind, and the race to November 1 on, here are the clubs who could make a play for Bostock once we get to that date.
4. Wests Tigers
The Tigers have had an awful season - or at least an awful second half of the season.
Benji Marshall's side started the campaign fantastically, but things have fallen apart rapidly during the second half of the year.
The Tigers have only added Jake Averillo to their squad for next year at this stage, and must surely already be looking at November 1 for more options.
The joint-venture have made it clear multiple times they want to become a development club, but probably aren't quite there yet, particularly in the outside backs.
While Averillo is likely to become a long-term part of their backline, and the club have Taylan May currently out injured, there is certainly room for more height and more pace, which Bostock would bring.
If I were Bostock, I wouldn’t go to PNG to live in a compound or to Perth to spend ten+ hours on a plane every other weekend.
Brisbane would be handy, but that team’s recent recruitment wouldn’t enthuse me, nor would the club culture.
Wests and Parramatta don’t seem to have a clear idea of where they are going.
St George – with its 2027 signings and retentions – would seem to be easily the most attractive option.