NO ONE begrudges Mark Gasnier's right to earn a dollar. "Would you work if you only got paid two-thirds of your wage?" he asked reporters.

Evidently, Gasnier is unaware of the award wage for journalists - television ones excluded, of course - as most need all thirds of it. Some need a little more.

Gasnier cannot be blamed for this mess. He has not been paid what he is due. Nothing elicits the snarl of Tony Soprano like being ripped off.

Yet the media conference at St George Leagues Club on Tuesday, when he announced he was leaving the NRL to play rugby union in France, provided a perfect opportunity to set free why it is so.

Why the captain of a famous club, with a famous surname, who was front and centre in advertisements for the World Cup and was clearly the best player on the field in the opening State of Origin match, was departing three years before his contract expired.

For 32 minutes, Dragons chief executive Peter Doust could not provide a straight answer on why the third-party deals that were needed to keep Gasnier in the game two years ago were not honoured.

Who were the third parties? Nope, that one's confidential. Whose responsibility was it to make sure they were met? Can't answer that one, either. Is it the NRL's fault? No, not saying any more. Is it yours? Sorry, can't hear you …

And why has it taken 18 months to resolve? Says one player manager: "If one of my blokes wasn't seeing $12,000 a month, he'd be on the phone straight away."

The managers have been saying for two months that Gasnier was leaving, but the word creaking out of the Dragons was that their captain would never leave the famed Red V in the lurch.

Just as the bookies are the first to hear of serious injury to a star player on the eve of a match, the agents are usually the first to know when one is departing his club. Again, the fans are the last stop on the line.

St George Illawarra supporters have long been pinned as some of the most critical in the game but they're entitled to some answers right now, as reluctant as anyone seems to be to provide them.

"If there is anger, it should be pointed in the direction of the contractual deal that wasn't honoured," said Gasnier when asked if he could understand if the Dragons faithful would be furious with him for abandoning them.

Doust and departing coach Nathan Brown roll their eyes in unison when asked about their club's fans. "Look, Dragons fans are some of the most passionate in the game and they have strong views," has been the intonation of their response in the face of criticism in recent years when the side has fallen well below expectations.

It is a frustration born from decades of underachievement. From too many nights in late September, rocking oneself to sleep after another grand final defeat.

But it also stems from a lack of transparency. They have seen Lance Thompson shunted out of the club with no response from the chief executive. Captain Trent Barrett edged out the door. Josh Morris lost to the Bulldogs. A conveyer belt of players to accommodate Gasnier. Now the Dragons are down a superstar with a veteran hooker in Luke Priddis the only big-name signing on the horizon.

Another season, another saga, another fumbled play in the front office.

It is not lost on anyone that Gasnier is represented by George Mimis, who can draw out contract negotiations like the final two minutes of an American football match. Matt Orford. Brett Kimmorley. Jason Ryles …

Surely, Wayne Bennett is watching from afar with the same look on his face as those sitting in the lifeboats as the Titanic tilted and sunk to the bottom of Atlantic. Then again, Mimis put together his deal to come to the Dragons, too.

The first question Gasnier was asked on Tuesday was whether he preferred to play rugby union or rugby league. He didn't know how to respond. The answer - like the one to so many questions in the game right now - should have fallen from his lips but did not.