Gower on red alert for $3.9m Salford move
By Danny Weidler
September 12, 2004
The Sun-Herald
Penrith's NRL finals hero Craig Gower is ready to quit the Panthers and join English club Salford on a £1.5 million ($3.9 million) deal, his manager, Greg Willett, says.
The deal may hinge in part on the club lining up a television deal for his model girlfriend Amanda Flynn, who has landed a role with a reality program on Channel Ten next year.
Willett said yesterday the Penrith skipper had indicated to him that he was prepared to leave the premiers.
Salford football manager Steve Simms has confirmed that Gower is the club's No.1 target, ahead of Raiders fullback Clinton Schifcofske and Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello.
Schifcofske, 28, is a genuine chance of leaving the Raiders as his days in the NRL are almost over.
The Sun-Herald revealed last week that Gower would be tempted to leave the Panthers for a £1.5 million deal with the City Reds over five years.
"Craig and I have discussed the deal and he has told me that if the offer is right he is going," Willett said.
"Craig said that he has achieved everything that he wants to in the NRL so it is time to set himself up for the rest of his life.
"The English offer can do that.
"But a significant factor is that his girl has a deal to do some television presenting for the next three years.
"I think if Salford can come up with something in that area, they are going to be hard to beat."
Gower said yesterday that discussions with Salford had not progressed too far at this stage.
"It is something worth listening to," he said of the English offer. "I'd like to stay at Penrith but I have to keep my options open."
Willett said Gower was not motivated purely by money.
"Craig is already very well off," he said. "He has invested all his contract money well and he'd be worth around $6 million. That's not too bad for a 25-year-old kid from Penrith."
Simms said Salford would become the world's richest rugby league club when their new £36 million stadium was completed. Part of the complex will contain a casino and 400-room hotel. The football club have been promised £2 million from the casino for the first year and increasing amounts after that.
"We will be the richest club going," Simms said. "And we want to start signing players now.
"Craig Gower is a player we'd love to have here and the indications we are getting is that he would be happy to commit to the club.
"We'll have money to spend for a player like Craig and probably one more player who will fit into our quota system.
"We're looking for a front-rower, a hooker or a fullback and I've talked to a number of managers about the players they've got and we want to start signing them up now rather than later."
He admitted that Schifcofske was a serious target for Salford.
"He is a class act and he may be ready to come over to England now," Simms said. "I know how much he means to Canberra and that is probably an indication of the quality player he is and the quality club person.
"I've talked to his manager, Steve Gillis, and those talks were positive."
Minichiello is also an option.
"Like Schifcofske, he is a quality fullback or winger and he's the sort of guy we could do with," Simms said.
He said that if they signed Gower, he would have significant influence in the player or players they recruit.
"I really like our chances of signing Craig," he said. "I can't see Penrith matching the kind of money that we could offer him."
