PANTHERS general manager Phil Gould has lifted the lid on Gold Coast’s recent bid to swap incoming star Tyrone Peachey with Penrith five-eighth James Maloney in 2019.
Speaking on his podcast
Six Tackles with Gus, Gould gave incredible insight into a behind-the-scenes conversation in which the Titans attempted to lure Maloney north, allowing the Panthers to keep rising star Tyrone Peachey.
“The Gold Coast said, ‘We’re prepared to do a little bit of a trade. We wouldn’t mind having James Maloney at the Gold Coast, you can keep Tyrone Peachey and we’ll take James Maloney because we’d like a player of his experience’,” Gould said.
“I said, ‘James Maloney’s not for sale’. That wasn’t going to happen. It’s within their rights to make the inquiry. But Tyrone will honour his deal at the Titans.”
Maloney is in the first year of a three-year-deal with the Panthers, while Peachey has muddied the waters after hinting to a potential backflip on his deal with the Gold Coast that will start in 2019.
Peachey has signed a three-year-contract, but on Wednesday admitted to having doubts about whether he would leave the Panthers, before
retracting his comments a short time later.
Although Gould said the 27-year-old representative utility would honour his contract, he said he told Maloney’s manager of the approach after knocking back the Titans’ inquiry.
“I spoke to (Maloney’s) manager just to let him know the inquiry’s come in,” Gould said.
“I refused it but I rang his manager and said, ‘Gold Coast Titans have made an inquiry about James Maloney, I’ve said no, I’m just letting you know they’ve shown some interest.’
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James has brought so many great things to our club. We’ve signed him for three years for a reason, and he’s only in the first year of that contract. I can understand the Gold Coast Titans too because they’re a young club on the rise, they’re within their rights to chase the player they think can help their club as well.
“I think other clubs know we’re going to run into salary cap issues over the next couple of years so that’s why they make approaches to Corey Harawira-Naera and those sorts of players. We’d like that to be in our control but by the same token we’re mindful that if our players are worth more money and other clubs are wiling to pay it and we can’t, we’ll look at that with a compassionate view.”
