Here’s my take on Michael Jennings’ career with Penrith
He’s a very exciting player to watch when he’s on song and he has provided us with plenty of ‘wow’ moments, his kick return against the Roosters will be something I’ll never forget. Generally when we were winning, he found a way to put more points on the board and carve up the opposition. He was definitely a crowd pleaser and the kind of player who brings people through the gates.
However, make no mistake about it, Michael Jennings have never been a game changer while playing with the Panthers. Sure he has made some great plays, showed plenty of speed and has scored a bundle of tries when the game is out of hand. Truth is though that the club has generally performed poorly during his tenure and while this can obviously be attributed to a whole host of reasons, the reality is that Jennings’ presence did little to turn the club around. When the game was on the line or when we were behind and needed our superstars to lift the team, Jennings was generally nowhere to be found. He never really went looking for the ball in key moments (ala Pritchard) and he was never the kind of player who could lift his team mates and have a significant impact on the performance of the team.
Furthermore, he has had his fair share of off the field issues, showing up drunk to training, poor attitude, etc. I don't think he was ever a leader or a marquee player that you could build a club around. Also, he was injury prone, most of us remember how time and time again he would come up from most tackles quite gingerly after picking up some sort of niggle, he is a sportcar in that regard. I also question why his performances at SOO never translated to club footy, that raises question marks for me.
He was given an outlandish contract and I don’t blame him for that, nevertheless he has never been worth close to that contract, even when he was on song, at his best he was a try scorer and provider when the team was doing well. As I said, I can’t remember seeing him come up big in big moments, nor did his presence seem to lift the team from the cellar.
This loss will seem more significant because he was a crowd pleaser, the flashy outside back who scores tries, wowed us with his speed and put bums on seats. However when you look at this fiscally, the move makes absolute sense. Jennings has never been a player who lifted us from the cellar and his contract would ensure that we would be handicapped to add any other significant pieces to compete for a title.
