Western Force CEO Vern Reid says James O'Connor's insistence on including key performance indicators (KPIs) for the club in his new deal was a huge part of the reason the Super Rugby outfit withdrew their offer to him Wednesday morning.
The Force offered O'Connor a one-year deal with an option for him to extend that by a further year but the star playmaker turned down the club's initial bid - a deal which potentially would have made him the highest-paid in Australian rugby - and presented a counter offer.
O'Connor's counter offer included a range of KPIs, mainly relating to the team's on-field performance, which the Force would have to meet for him to take up his second-year option, but the club decided that was unacceptable.
Instead the Force again offered the 20-year-old a contract similar to the one they initially made and put a deadline of 9am on Wednesday for a response, before withdrawing that offer after O'Connor's representatives didn't respond.
Reid said O'Connor's demands were simply unreasonable and the club had to part ways with him.
"We considered his terms and we have made a decision today that we're not prepared to meet the constraints that he and his lawyer were seeking to impose on the Force," he said.
"It was a combination of the terms and it was also somewhat related to the money."
"But essentially the variation was that James sought to modify the term of the contract to a one plus one at his option, and in that he gave the Western Force a number of KPIs, that in itself we thought was probably unusual, and we were unwilling to agree to the KPIs that he and his lawyer set for us."
"The deadline expired so at this point all I can say is James will be leaving us, we are very disappointed about that, we've done a great deal to keep him. He has been a very valuable part of our development and we had planned that he would be a very valuable part of the team's development moving forward."
The news of O'Connor's departure came less than one week after Reid said he was confident of concluding a deal to keep the utility back in Perth, after his other suitors - the Reds, the Rebels and the Brumbies - all said they were out of the running.
O'Connor is now widely speculated to be close to joining the Melbourne Rebels, and although Reid said he knew the deal hadn't been completed with them, there was no chance the Queensland-born star would stay with the Force.
"It would be fair to say his lawyer this morning didn't give me any opportunity to think that would happen," Reid said.
"It was essentially James' decision and whoever else was advising him on a personal level, that's my understanding of the process."
"Everyone is in agreement with our action this morning to bring it to a head."