We have also had Reid, Sidey and Elliott re sign on what I would imagine to be much higher wages. Since 2011, I doubt anyone would have re-signed for unders. I think the cash surplus is a bit of a fallacy.
Another way to think about this in the last two years of list changes. These categories are based on wage estimations not football output:
Outs
High: Didak, Thomas, Shaw, Beams, Jolly
Mid: Maxwell, Johnson, Ball, Lynch, Lumumba, Keeffe, J Thomas,
Low: Russell, Krakouer, Clarke
Ins
High: -
Mid: Adams, Varcoe, Greenwood, White, Elliot, Grundy,
Low: Crisp, Dwyer, Witts, Broomhead, De Goey, Moore, Maynard, Abbott, Blair, Frost, Langdon, Kennedy, Williams, Oxley, Ramsay, Scharenberg, Marsh, Gault, Seedsman, Karnezis, Freeman, Sinclair.
To my way of thinking the mid-cost outs cover the cost of our mid-cost ins easily. And there are plenty of outs in the next little while which cover the wage demands of our established mid-aged players like Reid and Sidebottom. Young will surely go at the end of this contract. White will go at the end of next year.
I reckon we have a shitload of money to splash on high-end players right now with front-end contracts while our young kids will earn money later on when Swan retires and Cloke gets a contract which is comparable to his late career output.