George Williams has emerged as one of the biggest free agents to ever become available on the mid-season market.
Canberra Raiders shockingly released Williams with immediate effect, just weeks after pressing to keep him at the club despite his homesickness.
The news is understood to have come as a shock to everyone in the game, including Williams himself.
The England halfback had informed the club of his desire to be granted a release at the end of the season to return to the UK with his partner, who is currently pregnant.
But Williams is understood to have been completely caught off guard by Canberra's decision to grant him an immediate release, which reportedly came after the former Wigan playmaker informed the Raiders' welfare manager that he wasn't in condition to train.
It means Williams is now a free agent, and with a return to the UK in the pipeline, there will inevitably be a flurry of interest to sign him up.
As it stands, Williams has not signed a deal for the remainder of the season.
But Wigan, Warrington and Leeds are all understood to be monitoring, and now actively pursuing conversations to discover what the future holds.
His availability mid-season comes with complications, particularly for Warrington, who wouldn't be able to get Williams in under their salary cap this season, unless they could move on a top earner.
That wouldn't be completely out of the realms of reality with Blake Austin looking set to leave at the end of the season, and the club would potentially look to move him on early if it facilitated a deal for Williams.
Wigan, on the other hand, do have the salary cap space required to make their move.
George Burgess has left the club and occupied a marquee player spot that has been left unfilled. Williams would also only count as £75,000 on the club's cap due to the homegrown dispensation. The club also cut their cloth last year as Joe Greenwood, Joe Burgess, Ben Flower and Sean O'Loughlin all departed among others, though a fair chunk of their salaries was taken up by upgraded contracts for existing players. Regardless, Wigan have the space.
Leeds' position is a bit more unclear, though with Zane Tetevano and Konrad Hurrell both on marquee contracts, they would need a significant amount of salary cap space to get a deal done.
Some have pointed out that Leeds could offer him a smaller contract this year then increase it the year after, but the salary cap does not work in such a way. Instead, players are given a cap value by the RFL, and clubs must keep that under £2.1m, rather than the actual wages being paid out.
While other clubs will no doubt be interested in signing Williams, those three clubs are the only realistic destinations.
With Williams now immediately after a new club, it's a process that is likely to move with speed.
