I agree they’ve been more consistent, but disagree on value. It is more about future output, impact to a team, and the rarity of dominant key forwards vs the number of gun mids around.
Curnow is 2 years younger than Merrett and coming in to his prime for a key forward. Plus quality key forwards always attract a premium.
Sydney offered a better trade deal to us for Daniher, who had not shown as much as Curnow, and hadn’t even been on the park for 2 years.