Official: Merrin signs with Penrith

[dungay dragon]

So Morris was let go on compassionate grounds (cant go on without my brother ) with a year to go on his contract :?
Merrin announces hes off to the Panthers next year...
Am surprised the Panthers havent been able to wriggle the figures to get him in this year
Cant see this ending amicably guys
First dropped ball , missed tackle, poor game and watch the s..t hit the fan ;-)
Rather spend money and time in those who will be with us Long term

 

[saints4me]

Thank god that's over,so we can all move on.I think like most cases it does have the potential to end in tears when players sign so far in advance.If he is carrying some minor injuries will he be prepared to put his body on the line?or will it be easier to sit it out for a few weeks with next seasons contract in mind.Also get ready for the love fess from Gould if he is commentating on any dragons games when Merrin is involved.

This....in spades. I can hear Gould now. I'll need to keep my finger on the mute button then!

 

[Dragon66]

Good player that Merrin is he is not worth 750K a season.
Wonder how the other Penrith forwards are feeling about a new player who is talented, but to date hasn't been a game changer like Sam Burgess but will be earning more than twice as much as every other forward in the squad.

And will people stop talking crap about not getting on with the coach or club. He is 25, and at this stage f his career it's ABOUT THE MONEY! And I won't argue that he also has more chance of winning another premiership ring the way things stand in our club atm. And "chance" is the key word, no guarantees. That's just an added bonus.

Best wishes Trent just as long as you give us your all this year.

 

[Slackboy72]

I've got a new forward for us, but we'll have to wait a while. He was only born this morning!

..and the circle of life continues.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Congratulations to him.......unfortunately its a little sad that players now sign on with different clubs years in advance ...sort of takes the shine off him still being one of ours...still its a business these days.....just hope he puts 100% in for us... Origin player or not personally for mine he's overrated and certainly not worth 750k a year....glad in a way were not paying him that to stay.....still as much as it hurts me to say I will still be cheering him on whilst he wears s the red V....but next season that's a different story.....

 

[getsmarty]

Good player that Merrin is he is not worth 750K a season.
Wonder how the other Penrith forwards are feeling about a new player who is talented, but to date hasn't been a game changer like Sam Burgess but will be earning more than twice as much as every other forward in the squad.

And will people stop talking crap about not getting on with the coach or club. He is 25, and at this stage f his career it's ABOUT THE MONEY! And I won't argue that he also has more chance of winning another premiership ring the way things stand in our club atm. And "chance" is the key word, no guarantees. That's just an added bonus.

Best wishes Trent just as long as you give us your all this year.

x's 2 Well said.

 

[Twenty10]

Yeah ,Gus and Cleary have no idea .

All the experts saying what Merrins worth ,he is worth what the market is/was prepared to pay for him .

Interested to see what we have to pay for a replacement next year , I think all the posters on here talking about how great it is that we have all the plodders on 1 year contracts are going to find out how difficult it will be to stretch the salary cap to replace so many players at current prices, Flo and Creagh included.

Rubbish mate... Gus and co have their own sneaky ways of bending the rules. Merrin is NOWHERE near a 750k player. Not even in that stratosphere. Totally over hyped. Good player yes... Should we be crying? No. We can hit the market effectively now. Plus with dan hunt surely gone next year and probably farrel we can attain 3 players of top quality.

Relax. Not such a bad thing. Merrin hasnt done a huge amount at dragons.

 

[Gomarchin]

So a team that has missed the final 8 for the last 3 seasons loses it's only two NSW SOO players due to salary cap pressure. Is it Mary, Peter Mulholland or are we paying for the incompetent recruitment/retention of our salary cap over the last 2-3 years?

I think there's something about Mary....that stinks.

 

[grouch]

Rubbish mate... Gus and co have their own sneaky ways of bending the rules. Merrin is NOWHERE near a 750k player. Not even in that stratosphere. Totally over hyped. Good player yes... Should we be crying? No. We can hit the market effectively now. Plus with dan hunt surely gone next year and probably farrel we can attain 3 players of top quality.

Relax. Not such a bad thing. Merrin hasnt done a huge amount at dragons.

hahahah one of your best Twenty10. Gold.

Ok so I'm trying to relax. Merrin, who "hasn't done a huge amount", aside from winning a premiership, winning the clubs player of the year award, and playing 10 origins by the age of 25 - most of those Origin reps coming while playing under one of the worst coaches in the club's history - has been let go so we can now "hit the market effectively". Even though clubs like Penrith and the Dogs (who finished much much higher than us) can "bend the rules" to sign our best forward and back from under our noses, we are now apparently well equipped to "attain 3 players of top quality" despite failing to even retain local juniors. Really really trying to relax.

 

[kit66]

Good luck to him and I hope he enjoys his last year with the club.
He's given us great service and we should be grateful have him.

Anyone who expects player loyalty in this day and age is dreaming.

 

[God-King Dean]

It's hilarious people trying to convince themselves Penrith are the stupid ones....

 

[hazzbeen]

Good luck to him and I hope he enjoys his last year with the club.
He's given us great service and we should be grateful have him.

Anyone who expects player loyalty in this day and age is dreaming.

x10

 

[karuah6]

It's hilarious people trying to convince themselves Penrith are the stupid ones....

Are you sure that is what they are saying. I think the main topic that he is not worth the money that Penrith are paying for him & I agree with their feelings.
Good luck to him but I am sure we can come up with a better buy for bucks.

 

[murraymob]

From reading in the press I think Merrin will continue to live in Wollongong and drive at least ninety minutes each day each way for training. I think the novelty will wear off pretty quickly. Have to say I don't think he's worth that much.

several penrith players already live in the shire and travel to training everyday.Its not that hard .Most posters on here if offered that sort of money to travel that distance would jump at the chance

 

[gorilla]

So a team that has missed the final 8 for the last 3 seasons loses it's only two NSW SOO players due to salary cap pressure. Is it Mary, Peter Mulholland or are we paying for the incompetent recruitment/retention of our salary cap over the last 2-3 years?

I think there's something about Mary....that stinks.

Good on yer, next.

 

[gorilla]

Good luck to him and I hope he enjoys his last year with the club.
He's given us great service and we should be grateful have him.

Anyone who expects player loyalty in this day and age is dreaming.

Hopefully he'll pull his weight this year - as he's done previous years. No dancing, plenty of sideways cover defence and lots of time on the field dragging tacklers along with him - occasional trickle pass out the back onto the ground

Then we might get someone who bullies the opposition, bends the line for a quick play-the-ball, and stands over the smaller players with a pass to the outside man.

A prop.

 

[matPORTS]

Good luck to him and I hope he enjoys his last year with the club.
He's given us great service and we should be grateful have him.

Anyone who expects player loyalty in this day and age is dreaming.

Agreed with this...

I too certainly wish Mez all the best in his future and hope that he continues to give is all for us this year.

But I also have to question our club management again...

Did we attempt to up our reported $600k per season offer which was on the table prior to Christmas last year? By not at least attempting to up our offer and freely letting him run off and negotiate with other clubs, I can't help but feel that we've now essentially been priced out of the market in terms of being able to attract quality reinforcements to replace him without having to pay SIGNIFICANT overs. I'd expect that we'd have needed to pay some overs due to the current state of our club but their is no denying that Mez's move out west has gone some way to not only bumping up the value of elite forwards but also bumping up the average price of forwards as a whole.

Like most I agree that Mez is a good no nonsense player, but he is far from being the game-breaking forward in the same mold as say Sam Burgess or SBW. What are up and comers on the cusp of consistent rep call ups, like David Klemmer and Josh Jackson for example, going to be worth in the next season or two (and will we see the Bulldogs just freely letting them test their value on the market and leave without a fight and a bunch of brown paper bags)?

 

[BuddPanther]

Gus paid 750k/yr right. He's pulled the wool over everyone's eyes again. Call it creative poaching,but no way Merrin's being paid anywhere near that $amount. He already cleaned out our overpaid players when he landed at the Panthers, negotiated and forced the value of Thurston up so Cowboys had to pay overs to keep him and inflated Carney's value until he got his man Peachy. One smart operator is Gus and that is the reason Merrin will be a Panther in 2016 or just maybe...........

 

[Saintjim]

Throw as much as we can at George burgess or even get Tom

 

[GongPanther]

The way the recruitment wheel goes around,it will won't be long when the Dragons will be on a player splurge and they'll get their fair share of new talent on the market.

What goes around,comes around.

And look at the bright side,you'll have most of the Panthers fans supporting your club with the exception when we play you.

And you never know,by any fat chance,if we are leading the comp and you guys need a win (in Rnd 24) to get into the final eight...;-)