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From what we understand contracts will be performance based and will be for either six months or a year. The change to performance based contracts is something that Hawkins has advocated ever since taking over the program. According to our latest understanding (this could have altered a bit depending on approval) there will be several different tiers of contracts. The highest will be for the core group of players with two tiers below that for residency players. There is another tier for local players and another for WCAP (World Class Athlete Program) players. Player that start out on a local contract may move up the scale. Similarly, if a player at the top is not performing well they can be moved to a different contract.
Since taking over Hawkins has had half a dozen big poster boards with names on them. Those names include current players, players that aren't involved in the program but ones they are interested in talking to, local players, players from the ODA's and more. He has been using those boards to mull over who will receive what type of contract.
It's safe to assume that players like Zack Test, Andrew Durutalo, Brett Thompson, Nick Edwards, and Folau Niua will be receiving contracts. It's probably okay to assume that most of the other players that have played on the Series this year or on one of the development tours will receive at least a bare minimum contract. At this point it's unclear if there will be a few open contracts for the team to absorb players during the middle of the season.
TIAR has also learned the named of the eight players that are participating in the WCAP system. Only two of those players--Eric Deuchle and Nu'u Punimata--are currently with the team while the others have the opportunity to train with them every so often and could potentially play full time in San Diego. Those players include Cameron Freeman, Ben Leatigaga, Marcus Satavu, Will Holder, and Matt Tago. Holder is one of the more well-known players among the group and is a strong candidate to join the team full time once he completes artillery training.