Penrith Panthers forced to defend huge payouts to sacked staff

Phil Gould’s departure from Penrith this week was just the most recent in a long line of hugely costly exits which Panthers boss Brian Fletcher has been forced to defend.

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Panthers boss Brian Fletcher has defended his club’s financial management in the wake of multimillion-dollar payouts to coaches, players and officials in recent years.

The Panthers are finalising figures on a redundancy payment for departing general manager Phil Gould, who quit last week with three-and-a-half years ­remaining on his contract.

They have previously had to pay out coaches Anthony Griffin, Ivan Cleary and Matt Elliott, plus chief executives Warren Wilson and Corey Payne.

The Panthers also had to partly pay out Trent Merrin.

The Panthers Group last year finished with a loss of almost $6 million.

Gould’s exit was the latest painful hit for Penrith. Image: Matrix Media Group

Meanwhile, members are kept in the dark in a total lack of transparency over the payouts.

“For starters, these are confidential agreements,” Fletcher said when quizzed. “Everyone’s wage is. To put it in perspective, the two coaches were terminated on the advice of ‘Gus’ and the board accepted that.

“They were the expensive ones because you’ve got to replace them as well.

“The other ones weren’t all that financially hurtful.”

Fletcher told The Sunday Telegraph that the Panthers had actually capped their termination payments.

“After the board had the Griffin payout, clauses (capped payouts) were put in all contracts to eliminate huge payouts.

“If you think about it, Gus’s departure will actually save us money because we won’t be paying him for the next three-and-a- half years. He won’t be getting replaced.”

Still, the NRL has always been concerned about handing out $13 million annual grants and the way in which some clubs spend the money in football operations.