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.
2. PNG Chiefs
The Chiefs will be linked to every big name hitting the open market from the end of 2027, and Bostock will be among them.
Maybe the only thing that counts against the franchise is the fact that they have already signed Zac Lomax and Alex Johnston to kick off their back five.
That leaves not quite as many spots available as they otherwise would have had from November 1, and if they ultimately turn around and sign Xavier Coates, who is signed to the end of 2027, Brian To'o and Joseph Manu who they are already in talks with, the chance of signing of Bostock essentially disappears.
However, Bostock would add plenty to the new franchise, bringing youth, height, speed and try-scoring ability.
The idea of having Lomax, Bostock and Coates in the same team is a terrifying prospect when it comes to supremacy in the air.
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.