The Sydney Roosters surprised the NRL world this week, when it was announced that they were allowing big-money winger Dominic Young leave just 18 months into a four-year deal.
The England product has struggled to find form for the Eastern suburbs team, replaced in their starting side by rugby union import Mark Nawaqanitawase to start the season, and reports are now coming out that the club will look to move on from Young.
But as the NRL grapples with a separate contract crisis around rising star Lachlan Galvin, one expert has questioned how different the two situations really are.
NRL expert compares Dominic Young cut to Lachlan Galvin situation
Lachlan Galvin broke the internet last month when it was revealed he was already planning his exit from the Wests Tigers, more than a year before he comes off contract.
But with recent reports of a different NRL team moving on from a star player just two-and-a-half years into a four-year deal, NRL commentator Andrew Voss has questioned why one situation has recieved much for vitriol than the other.
"What's the difference between Lachie Galvin and what it appears the Roosters did to Dominic Young yesterday," Voss said during Wednesday's episode of SEN Breakfast with Vossy & Brandy.
"[Young] is on a four-year contract, 18 months in they've basically said 'You're not playing to our standards, you're surplus to our needs right now, go now'.
"What is the actual difference in the morals and principles of what a club has just done to a highly paid player, big recruit, and what Lachlan Galvin has done with the Tigers?"
While his co-host and former NRL star Greg 'Brandy' Alexander attempted to offer some pushback, he did ultimately concede that these type of actions from the Roosters and other NRL teams were at least partially to blame for why Galvin handled things the way he did.
"The Tigers offered Galvin a contract, he knocked it back and on his way out the door said the coach can't advance my game, that's the difference basically," Alexander said
"But nothing that has happened between the two players is that different, and that's why the players have tried to protect themselves, because the clubs are brutal."