Cairns did the perfect moneyball, reasonably priced imports
I can't help wondering if Cairns won't be completely screwed by the salary cap measures for next season.
Last season Cairns did what they normally do.
Cheap locals, and scrape together what they can, to make liveable offers to imports looking to show-case their game for a season. Some years it works, last season they hit the jackpot with three very good imports.
It's obviously a different model, to that of a team trying to make the GF every year, but it works.
Keep in mind that we should assume they would be getting a subsidy to bring them up to the salary floor.
How do they make even half-reasonable offers to imports for next season, if its effectively grossed up, and will push them over the cap.
IIRC the floor was around $1.3M last season.
Given the likely bias, I'd guess they'll only be able to spend the equivalent of around $1M next season.