OldPanther
Coach
- Messages
- 13,404
https://out.reddit.com/t3_6r9r06?ur...1aZFeuAT-M_07lsQiJc6IHJW9&app_name=reddit.com
Revelations that Penrith have begun discussing a reported $3 million, five-year extension for 19-year-old playmaker Nathan Cleary pricked ears this week.
As recently as 12 months ago, the youngster already touted as NSW’s next great halfback hope re-committed to the Panthers until the end of 2019.
In the process he opted against keeping a get-out clause that would allow him to follow his dad to a rival club, and in May said he would “definitely consider” a career deal if Penrith brought one to the table.
Gould, the club’s general manager, admits “it’s very dangerous to contract players beyond the norm — three and four-years is usually a long-term contract.” But the Panthers are so sure of Cleary realising his prodigious potential, they’re wary of a rival outfit ‘doing a Ben Hunt’ and poaching the young star after years of being developed at the foot of the mountains.
“It comes down to a player like Nathan Cleary who plays in such an important position,” Gould said on Channel Nine’s Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“He’s a goalkicking halfback and obviously a representative player of the future.
“The club have put a number of years into him — Nathan came into our halfback program at 14 years of age, he’s been there six years already.
“He’s a big a part of the future so I guess it’s about protecting investment already made and making sure the club has a franchise player for a long period of time.
“If another club was to come and do a Ben Hunt on the Panthers and take away their halfback after 10 years of investment, 10 years of hard work into the player, it wouldn’t be fair on the club. “The club’s got to protect itself with a player of this stature.
“You’ve got to be able to protect your asset. It’s important (Penrith) never lose a Nathan Cleary.
“He’s a player that can make this club over the next decade.” Gould’s reference to Hunt, who will join the Dragons on over $1 million a season next year after over a decade in the Brisbane system, speaks to the other long term play kicked about this week.
Wayne Bennett’s desire to lure Broncos junior Ash Taylor back from the Titans when he becomes a free agent from November 1.
Having reluctantly released Taylor two years ago because he was ready for first grade, but stuck behind the 2015 grand final scrumbase of Hunt and Anthony Milford, Bennett will now have to buy back the farm to secure the 22-year-old.
Taylor’s value on the open market — with the natural inflation from an increased salary cap — is tipped to top seven figures based on the reported Titans three-year, $3 million retention package.
It’s the price someone, somewhere will pay for Johnathan Thurston’s Queensland successor, and Bennett speaks for both Neil Henry and their 14 contemporaries when he says: “I’d be silly not to try and bring Ash Taylor back.”
All of which makes a reported average of $600,000 a year serious unders for Cleary, provided of course he delivers. No agent worth his seven-percent of salt could let that one slide, but there would be little harm in letting at least another 12 months pass before talking serious brass taxes.
On current form, Cleary is only going to send his asking price one way.
As Gould says of his star half: “He is foolproof. He comes from a great family, a footballing family; he’s been in the system a long time.
“There is no drink, there’s no drugs, there’s no party (mentality). This kid is a true professional.
“… All the things that could affect a player’s future, he’s got none of that. He’s got no potential problems down the track other than injury, but you always take that gamble.”
The NRL’s two most significant long-term deals of late have been the ‘lifetime’ contracts offered to Jason Taumalolo and Daly Cherry-Evans.
Both were negotiated under free agency, with Cherry-Evans backflipping on the Gold Coast and Taumalolo backing away from a crack at the NFL.
With Cleary, Gould and Penrith are getting an early start in a dangerous game, before it backs them into a corner.
Revelations that Penrith have begun discussing a reported $3 million, five-year extension for 19-year-old playmaker Nathan Cleary pricked ears this week.
As recently as 12 months ago, the youngster already touted as NSW’s next great halfback hope re-committed to the Panthers until the end of 2019.
In the process he opted against keeping a get-out clause that would allow him to follow his dad to a rival club, and in May said he would “definitely consider” a career deal if Penrith brought one to the table.
Gould, the club’s general manager, admits “it’s very dangerous to contract players beyond the norm — three and four-years is usually a long-term contract.” But the Panthers are so sure of Cleary realising his prodigious potential, they’re wary of a rival outfit ‘doing a Ben Hunt’ and poaching the young star after years of being developed at the foot of the mountains.
“It comes down to a player like Nathan Cleary who plays in such an important position,” Gould said on Channel Nine’s Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“He’s a goalkicking halfback and obviously a representative player of the future.
“The club have put a number of years into him — Nathan came into our halfback program at 14 years of age, he’s been there six years already.
“He’s a big a part of the future so I guess it’s about protecting investment already made and making sure the club has a franchise player for a long period of time.
“If another club was to come and do a Ben Hunt on the Panthers and take away their halfback after 10 years of investment, 10 years of hard work into the player, it wouldn’t be fair on the club. “The club’s got to protect itself with a player of this stature.
“You’ve got to be able to protect your asset. It’s important (Penrith) never lose a Nathan Cleary.
“He’s a player that can make this club over the next decade.” Gould’s reference to Hunt, who will join the Dragons on over $1 million a season next year after over a decade in the Brisbane system, speaks to the other long term play kicked about this week.
Wayne Bennett’s desire to lure Broncos junior Ash Taylor back from the Titans when he becomes a free agent from November 1.
Having reluctantly released Taylor two years ago because he was ready for first grade, but stuck behind the 2015 grand final scrumbase of Hunt and Anthony Milford, Bennett will now have to buy back the farm to secure the 22-year-old.
Taylor’s value on the open market — with the natural inflation from an increased salary cap — is tipped to top seven figures based on the reported Titans three-year, $3 million retention package.
It’s the price someone, somewhere will pay for Johnathan Thurston’s Queensland successor, and Bennett speaks for both Neil Henry and their 14 contemporaries when he says: “I’d be silly not to try and bring Ash Taylor back.”
All of which makes a reported average of $600,000 a year serious unders for Cleary, provided of course he delivers. No agent worth his seven-percent of salt could let that one slide, but there would be little harm in letting at least another 12 months pass before talking serious brass taxes.
On current form, Cleary is only going to send his asking price one way.
As Gould says of his star half: “He is foolproof. He comes from a great family, a footballing family; he’s been in the system a long time.
“There is no drink, there’s no drugs, there’s no party (mentality). This kid is a true professional.
“… All the things that could affect a player’s future, he’s got none of that. He’s got no potential problems down the track other than injury, but you always take that gamble.”
The NRL’s two most significant long-term deals of late have been the ‘lifetime’ contracts offered to Jason Taumalolo and Daly Cherry-Evans.
Both were negotiated under free agency, with Cherry-Evans backflipping on the Gold Coast and Taumalolo backing away from a crack at the NFL.
With Cleary, Gould and Penrith are getting an early start in a dangerous game, before it backs them into a corner.
