The Tigers have lost three of their so-called "big four" after James Tedesco and Aaron Woods opted not to take up lucrative four-year extensions before they were taken off the table on Friday. With Mitchell Moses heading to Parramatta, only Luke Brooks remains of the quartet who graduated through the Tigers system.

The joint-venture outfit has a proud history of spotting and developing talent in its catchment areas and has the stated goal of having 12 local juniors in their full-time squad by the end of this season as part of its strategic plan.

However, the loss of three home-grown stars to three separate clubs has frustrated officials and fans. Skipper Woods will join Canterbury from next year, while Tedesco will shift to the Roosters.

Pascoe said the NRL had to provide incentives, such as salary cap dispensation or transfer fees, when players from developing clubs are raided.

"Our charter has been, and will remain, to develop the game of rugby league through our regions," Pascoe told Fairfax Media.

"Fortunately for us, our region is expansive, all the way out to Group 6 into western suburbs and the Balmain area.

"But we and other clubs need to be compensated for that. We're the ones funding it ourselves and allocating resources and talent to that development.

"To have other clubs come in and poach them without getting the right compensation is very frustrating from my perspective and also the club's.

"It's a sad loss, we've had three players leave at their peak in their positions.

"The issue for us as an organisation and those other clubs that are development clubs is around there being compensation for developing with a reduction in salary cap value or compensation with developing players and getting a large transfer fee.

"Clubs like ourselves and the likes of Penrith, Canberra, Parramatta and Canterbury go out and develop players to increase participation.

"The clubs that fund the growth of the sport need to be considered when other clubs come in and poach our players.

"The current system is inequitable for that."

Pascoe admitted the protracted contract saga has been a disruption for the Tigers and the Friday signing deadline was imposed to bring the situation to a head.

"In hindsight, [we should] have brought it to a conclusion quicker than what we had," he said.

"It's been disruptive and we will learn from that. The decision to bring forth a deadline was for that reason, to bring some certainty."

New Tigers coach Ivan Cleary will now have the best part of $4 million to go to the market as part of his rebuild. Josh Reynolds, Ben Matulino, Aidan Guerra and Blake Ferguson are among the free agents that are of interest.

"Three finals appearances in 17 years is unacceptable," Pascoe said of his club.

"That's why we're making some of the strong decisions that we're making.

"Ivan and I and the board believe we are in a very strong position. This isn't a rebuild in the traditional sense. We've got a core nucleus of talented people already on this list - we just need to go out there with what we have now and complement and add value to it in the positions we need."

The Tigers face Canterbury, the team Woods will be joining, on Sunday. The NSW prop was photographed with Bulldogs players just days before the ANZ Stadium encounter.

Cleary said he had no plans to relieve Woods of the captaincy.

"Aaron is the captain of the club and will lead the side out tomorrow," Cleary said.

"I would be very surprised if that didn't happen. He is the captain. I'm sure it's a difficult process for everyone involved. He is the captain of the team and I'm sure he will show that."

Cleary has gone through similar rebuilds at the Warriors and Penrith and is confident he could turn around the Tigers' fortunes.

"Change is difficult," he said.

"The reality is it is a professional environment and everyone has different ideals and goals. I and we respect everyone's goals. That's how it will always be. We are going to change at this club. Reality is that history shows there has not been sustained success. That's what we are going to try and garnish. I'm looking forward to doing it."