GOOD luck to the Newcastle Knights selling this one.
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Any excitement Knights fans are feeling over the imminent arrival of Cronulla fullback Lachlan Miller has been at least partially offset by news that young prop Max Bradbury is likely to be heading in the opposite direction, as part of a trade deal.
Miller shapes as a handy, albeit speculative, acquisition, judging by his form for the Sharks last year in his debut NRL campaign.
At 28, the former Australian rugby union sevens representative is a late convert to the 13-man code who was no guarantee to feature regularly in Cronulla's first-choice squad this year.
Of the seven top-grade games he has played, the Sharks won six, and the only loss of his career thus far was in the play-offs against South Sydney, who just happen to be the only top-eight side he has played against.
Impressive as he was, Miller benefited from playing behind a team that finished second on the ladder and conceded the third-fewest points in the NRL.
Nonetheless, his signing could prove a masterstroke if he grabs his opportunity and allows skipper Kalyn Ponga to settle at five-eighth, alongside primary playmaker Jackson Hastings.
Bradbury's name, meanwhile, might be unfamiliar to many supporters, because he is yet to make his NRL debut.
But the Wangi Warriors junior represented NSW under-19s last season, helped Newcastle reach the Jersey Flegg (under-21) grand final and has been training all pre-season with Newcastle's NRL squad.
Bradbury had been touted as a likely NRL debutant this season but now, like his former Flegg teammates James Johnson (Broncos) and Kurt Dongohoe (Dolphins), he is set to pursue that dream at a rival club.
This is becoming a recurring theme, after Knights discards Grant Anderson (Melbourne) and Zac Hosking (Brisbane) emerged in the NRL last season, along with Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury), a Sydney junior who was groomed in Newcastle's lower grades.
Like Josh King, who established himself as a regular starter at Melbourne and represented the Prime Minister's XIII last year, their progress since leaving Newcastle has raised plenty of questions.
Bradbury's release is perhaps even more surprising given that the Knights have already parted company with four genuine front-rowers - David Klemmer, Sauaso Sue, Pasami Saulo and Jirah Momoisea - while signing only two, Canterbury's Jack Hetherington and Canberra's Adam Elliott, to re-stock their middle-forward rotation.
Fans are entitled to be puzzled, to say the least, but I'd suggest it really is this simple.
Bradbury might develop into a quality first-grader over the next few years, but whether he has a major impact in 2023 is another matter altogether.
And for Knights coach Adam O'Brien, it's all about the here and the now, after a grim 2022 campaign in which his team finished 14th and won only six games.
O'Brien made his position quite clear last year when, after Anthony Milford signed for the Dolphins, he continued to get picked, even though the Knights had bowed out of the finals race.
"I'm not looking at a long-term thing," O'Brien said at the time. His priority was to "get better this week".
That sense of urgency is presumably shared by his employers, the Wests Group, who after five seasons in charge of the Knights, are still to deliver a solitary finals victory.
Then factor in a North Queensland-based recruitment manager, Clint Zammit, who apparently is not bothered if a player hails from South Newcastle or the South Pole, and young tyros like Max Bradbury quickly become dispensable.
The days when the Knights fielded grand final teams featuring nine locals in the starting line-up are ancient history. Last year Newcastle's backline regularly comprised six Queenslanders and an Englishman.
The fans might care. The powers-that-be clearly don't.
