The latest NRL news, intelligent rugby league analysis, and innovative NRL statistics
As expected, Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary has signed a five-year extension to remain at the foot of the mountains.
His new deal will keep Cleary at Penrith until the end of 2024.
Cleary has played 58 first grade games for the Panthers, and 3 Origins for New South Wales.
Well that didn’t take long.
After the Panthers reportedly closed in on signing halfback Nathan Cleary on Monday, it was expected speculation on the future of his father, Ivan, would soon follow.
Now, SMH is reporting that the Panthers have indeed offered Cleary Senior their head coaching job – from 2021.
Cynically, this offer could be viewed as a path towards getting Ivan on board for next season, despite the Tigers having already refused his release. Should Ivan accept the Panthers’ offer, it would put the squeeze on the Tigers to either release him, or effectively squander two years of potential rebuild, by keeping a lame duck head coach with a foot out the door.
The question then becomes who has the leverage. With the Panthers having already sacked Anthony Griffin, the Tigers could bluff that they’re happy to stay the course with Cleary, in the hopes of getting compensation from Penrith.
Perhaps to that end then, the Panthers board today endorsed caretaker head coach Cameron Ciraldo to stay on in the job next year, according to nrl.com.
In effect, the Panthers have sent a message to the Tigers of ‘if you want to hamstring your club for two years, go for it; we’re happy with Ciraldo’.
If the Tigers believe the Panthers won’t pay them a cent, the decision over whether or not to release Cleary becomes purely about what’s best for the football team, and by that measure, few would agree that delaying the appointment of a new coach and new direction would be beneficial.
In that case, the Panthers could end up getting exactly what they wanted for nothing.
Of course, Cleary may yet reject the Panthers’ offer. But if he accepts it, this high-stakes game of poker has the potential to work out poorly for both sides of they’re not careful.
Expect the Ivan Cleary rumours to kick into gear again soon.
According to Panthers boss Phil Gould on 100% Footy, the Panthers are expecting to get star halfback Nathan Cleary re-signed “soon“.
Re-signing Cleary would put an immediate end to speculation linking him with a move to the Tigers, but would likely re-ignite rumours linking his father, Ivan, to a return to the foot of the mountains.
Cleary has played 57 first grade games for the Panthers, and 3 Origins for New South Wales.
It’s been rumoured for a while, but today it became official: Panthers utility Tyrone Peachey wants out from his contract with the Titans.
According to a report on nrl.com, Peachey has instructed his manager to request a release on compassionate grounds, because his wife is pregnant with their second child, and he doesn’t want to uproot his family from Western Sydney.
Unfortunately for Peachey, it mightn’t be that easy.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the Titans have politely refused Peachey’s request (admittedly, we added the ‘politely’), with Titans CEO Graham Annesley saying “You could imagine if the situation was reversed… how well would that go down?” (We’re speculating, but you’d imagine that if the situation were indeed reversed and Annesley’s employer refused his resignation and forced him to stay against his will for three years, that he’d probably be unimpressed; but that’s obviously not the “reversed situation” he had in mind.)
The situation gets even messier, with Peachey expressing his preference to remain with the Panthers, who’ve previously stated that they have no room left for him in the salary cap.
Admittedly, they’ve since released second-rower Corey Harawira-Naera, but it’s doubtful that his money would get close to satisfying an Origin star such as Peachey.
As a result, if he does secure a release (which is no sure thing), he may be forced to move clubs.
Peachey has played 115 first grade games for the Panthers, and 3 Origins for New South Wales.
The Bulldogs are quietly going about their rebuild, and have today snared their best signing so far.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the Bulldogs have secured Panthers edge forward Corey Harawira-Naera on a four-year deal, that will see the Kiwi star head to Belmore until the end of 2022.
The move makes more immediate sense for the Bulldogs than the Panthers, with Harawira-Naera and the recently re-signed Rhyse Martin providing Canterbury with a pair of attacking second-rowers they can build around for the future.
For Penrith though, they’re giving up an elite young edge runner, albeit a slightly superfluous one, given the presence of Isiaah Yeo and Viliame Kikau on their roster. High-end depth is hard to come by in the NRL, and we can only assume that this move is intended to create cap space for another move still to come.
Perhaps that move could be the re-signing of Origin utility Tyrone Peachey, who the Panthers said just this morning that they couldn’t fit under the salary cap, even if he were to renege on his Titans deal.
There’d be a little bit more wiggle room now, but whether or not that’s the direction they go remains to be seen.
Harawira-Naera has played 44 first grade games for the Panthers.