To be fair the this new club, if true, they are simply looking at all available players for their first season. why would they not look at good a-league players who are off contract? Especially those that are potentially unlikely to re-sign for their current club as it has license issues.
... because they are our players unless we do not want them ourselves...
Both you and theprof are obviously correct on this.
In reality, we might be hampered in our contract re-negotiations by the licence status.