Think back to the wooden spoon year, 2001 or more precisely the 2nd half of that year. Matty A led the chorus that eventually resulted in the sacking of Royce Simmons. Girds and Gower were also accused of being involved but there was no substance to that. Matty A also re-signed with the club for a further 2 or 3 years but as soon as John Lang was appointed coach, he approached the club for a release, which was given. His backstabbing ways have followed him though-out his career, given he wasn't happy when he left Parramatta for us, was a disruptive force in his later years while with us (despite being one of our better players on the field); was also apparently the cause of one of the UK SuperLeague coaches getting sacked early this season. He has a record and a bad one at that. Penrith do not require a disruptive influence at our club, we can do enough of that on our own without him being around.
Even his brother, Phil, admits that there is a lot of negative vibes towards Matty from the Penrith fans and was looking forward to Matt's return to Penrith when he was playing for Canberra.
