Wests Tigers want to tear up the final year of Chris Lawrence's lucrative contract, with a view to replacing it with a new one that keeps him at the club for two more seasons.
The Tigers are under immense salary cap pressure for 2017, due in part to massive back-ended deals for Lawrence and Farah.
Farah is on the best part of $1 million next year, while Lawrence is on $600,000. Those commitments alone make it difficult to retain several off-contract players they want to keep, let alone go into the open market.
While Lawrence is entitled to every cent of his current contract money, the Tigers are hoping he may consider a new deal that guarantees him $450,000 per season for 2017 and 2018.
The Tigers have first got to clear the proposal with the NRL, which rarely allows variations to contracts that have already been lodged and registered.
However, the joint-venture outfit is hopeful of clearing that hurdle and then presenting it to Lawrence's agent, in the belief it could be beneficial for both parties.
The current Tigers administration believes previous officials have paid "overs" for Lawrence, with the original deal tabled after he broke into the Australian teams of 2010-11.
The back-rower was given permission to negotiate with other clubs in the hope he would seek a release, although it wasn't financially feasible for rivals, even after the Tigers' offer to cover some of his freight.
Asked about the prospect of spreading his wage over two seasons as part of an extension deal, Lawrence said: "If that's the case, it's something I'll talk to with my manager and if it works for both parties it is something we will look at ...
"I haven't spoken to my manager. I made it pretty clear to him him that if any of those talks would happen that they should happen without me so that I could focus on my football.
"Then when there was some progress with that he could involve me."
Lawrence has played 175 games for the Tigers since his debut over a decade ago, a figure that would be much higher if not for a spate of injuries. The 27-year-old said his preference would be to finish his career where it started.
"Ideally, yes, in a perfect world you want to be a one-club player," Lawrence said.
"The more the NRL goes on the less likely it is for players to do that. I'd love it but if that's not the case I've just got to get on with it, so we'll wait and see what happens.
"It's like anything – at the end of each season there is always a review. Players, in this day and age, with contracts don't mean everything these days.
"Some guys might have contracts but still have the reason to look elsewhere and vice versa for the clubs.
"For me, I didn't worry about that. I tried to get my game right and left it to the manager and the club to work it out."
The Tigers are hopeful of retaining hooker Mania Cherrington and prop Ava Seumanufagai, although their top priority is hanging onto Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses.
The halves have options in their favour for next year and have until June to activate them.
"I've left it all to my management; I just want to concentrate on footy," Moses said. "I honestly don't think about it at all. If I see [speculation] about it I don't pay any attention to it at all."
