Titans warn Tyrone Peachey over his plans to backflip on contract
GOLD Coast boss Graham Annesley says the era of the contract backflip is over and Tyrone Peachey must honour his $1.5 million Titans deal or face three years of NRL exile.
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GOLD COAST boss Graham Annesley has warned Tyrone Peachey faces three years on the sidelines if the NSW Origin ace reneges on his $1.5 million Titans deal.
The Peachey contract saga took a dramatic twist on Wednesday when the Titans were rocked by claims the Panthers star had instructed his manager he wants to stay at Penrith for family reasons.
Peachey reportedly made the comments while talking to the media as he prepares for Saturday night’s sudden-death semi-final against the Sharks at Allianz Stadium.
The prospect of a Peachey backflip first surfaced last month after his wife expressed concerns about moving to the Gold Coast, but the Titans declared they will play hardball with their new recruit.
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In March, Peachey signed a three-year deal with the Titans starting next season and Annesley says he must honour the contract or risk being exiled from the NRL until 2022.
“He’s a contracted player for us — we expect Tyrone Peachey to be here on November 1 (the start of Titans pre-season),” Annesley said.
“Tyrone Peachey signed a deal with us six months ago and we expect him to honour that deal.
“We have made recruitment and retention decisions off the back of his signing.
“If the situation was reversed and he was desperately keen to come and we decided we didn’t want him, how would that go down with Tyrone and his manager?
“Tyrone either plays with us … or he will have to sit on the sidelines for three years.”
In the lead-up to Penrith’s finals showdown with the Sharks, Peachey told reporters he never wanted to leave a Panthers club battling salary cap pressures.
The utility said he and his wife had built a new home in Penrith, adding that he has asked his manager Sam Ayoub to finalise his future after the Panthers’ finals campaign.
“We’ve just built in Penrith and the missus is real comfortable in that place,” Peachey said.
“I spoke to my manager and told him what I want to happen.
“I also told him I don’t want to worry about anything until the end of the year.
“I just want to worry about Penrith for the moment and we’ll figure the rest out at the end of the year.”
One major sticking point relates to a representative-bonus payment clause that was in Peachey’s Penrith deal for 2019. Peachey stood to pocket an extra $50,000 for breaking into State of Origin this year, but that clause was not inserted in his Titans deal for next season.
Ironically, the NRL closed the door on players reneging on contracts in 2015 after Daly Cherry-Evans backflipped on his Titans deal to stay at Manly.
“The days of the backflip are over,” Annesley said.
“Under the rules, the NRL wouldn’t register another deal with a Sydney club anyway. We have a legally binding contract which Tyrone willingly signed and entered into.”
Ayoub said: “Tyrone has not asked for a release, but there are some welfare issues we need to work through.
“We will talk about his situation when his commitments for this year are over.”
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Originally published as Titans warn Tyrone Peachey over his plans to backflip on contract