How NRL rivals are exploiting the ‘Panthers tax’ to pillage rugby league’s biggest talent nursery
NRL clubs are targeting 16-year-old Panthers prospects in an unprecedented raid that costs them nothing but threatens the foundation of rugby league’s most successful production line.
It’s the little-known “Panthers tax” rival clubs are desperate to avoid paying.
Penrith’s junior production line has become so irresistible that clubs are now moving earlier than ever to dodge a minimum $5000 development fee for each young talent.
The bulging list of premiership-winning Panthers lured by clubs has been well-documented, led by blue-chip stars Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Stephen Crichton.
Throw in Matt Burton, Spencer Leniu and Viliame Kikau.
Then there were those on the fringe who had obvious NRL roadblocks, including Isaiya Katoa, J’maine Hopgood and Isaiah Iongi.
But now you can add Calvary Luai, Cornelius Pupualii, Jhett Sydir, Jett Cleary, Cameron Bamblett, and Jasais Ah Kee to the honour roll, too.
All up almost 60 players who have either come through the Panthers system, or were about to, as opposition clubs attempt to drink from the water flowing out of the Nepean River.
Most of the time their exits are due to salary cap pressure.
“You look at our list and you think, ‘Well, you know, the bloke that plays my position is here forever. So what does that mean for me?” Penrith chief executive Matt Cameron says.
“Part of it came through that.
“Part of it came through other NRL clubs looking at our list and going, ‘They all are contracted for long periods of time, so there’s an opportunity to dig into that next layer.
“Or even the layer below that.”
THE LAYER BELOW
And that layer, kids as young as 16, is where the shovels have started to clank.
A deeper dive into the pillaging at the foot of the mountains has uncovered an influx of western Sydney kids now appearing behind enemy lines.
Which isn’t exactly new for the biggest junior nursery in the league.
However the difference now is that clubs are picking them off before they’re old enough to drink - and avoid compensating Penrith in the process.
An amendment to NRL rules six years ago allowed clubs to seek compensation for their juniors being recruited, provided they have spent at least two years in the system.
The fee ranges from a $5000 lump sum to 10 per cent of their first NRL contract, depending on varying milestones a promising player checks off during their rise up the ranks.
In some instances, the price rises when players cross state borders.
But in the past couple of years alone, a growing number of teenagers who first played for the Panthers’ Harold Matthews side (under-17s) are now scattered across the competition.
One of the more recognisable names, Jett Cleary, went to the Warriors last year, while just this summer, Calvary Luai, brother of Jarome, switched to the Wests Tigers.
Pupualii brothers Alexander and Cornelius will line-up for St George Illawarra, while Australian Schoolboy star Cameron Bamblett is at Parramatta.
All of them started wearing the licorice allsorts.
Asked whether rival clubs are trying to dodge the fee, Cameron said: “A little bit, yes.
“We’ve lost cohorts of kids at 16 who have changed clubs and haven’t done two years of true development at the Panthers.
“Whether it’s a strategic financial direction at some other clubs, to try and identify talent younger and get them in their system before they hit that two-year marker, I’m not too sure.”
MAKING A PANTHER
With nearly 10,000 junior registrations, Penrith have long been tinkering with their methods of identifying the best rugby league talent in their own backyard.
For every premiership they’ve won - from their maiden title in 1991 to their recent fourpeat - a core group of homegrown talent laid the foundation for the triumph.
Currently, teenagers with the most potential are nominated for a 42-week training course that the Panthers use to select those who will earn development contracts.
Those players are paid $1200 a week - money all funded by the club - which is part of the reason why the NRL introduced development fees.
“We feel like we’re a very process driven organisation here,” Cameron said.
“So we feel like, if you put the talent into the top and put them through the process, then you’re going to get something positive coming out of the other end of it.”
However the increase in kids being enticed elsewhere means the decision-makers at Penrith are being forced to make calls on their juniors earlier than planned.
“Everyone would be confident that they could go and watch a SG Ball game and pick out two first-graders,” Cameron said.
“But the reality is, it’s hard. It’s very hard.
“That’s why we want these young men and now young women to stay in our system as long as we possibly can, to work out whether they are elite talent or they’re not.
“But we’re just not having that opportunity with some players because they’re leaving early for whatever reason.”
THROUGH THE CRACKS
Penrith’s biggest loss out of their nursery may not have even been to a code and team in their own country, let alone an NRL rival.
Few had even heard of Heinz Lemoto before he signed with French rugby club Toulon, brushing big-money offers from both the Panthers and Rugby Australia.
The 18-year-old started the year in Penrith colours but finished up after the SG Ball (under-19s) season, and was last spotted tearing it up for Australia’s Schoolboys rugby side against New Zealand.
Heinz’ brother Hokafonu, a NSW Origin under-19s representative, remains with the Panthers and is completing his first NRL pre-season.
Cameron said it was disappointing to lose Heinz from their stable.
“There was a pretty large offer on the table for him to stay, but we were never going to be able match what the ARU or wherever he’s ended up offered,” he said.
“It’s just another aspect of what we’re dealing with now. So we’re not only dealing with other clubs now, but now we’re dealing with other codes.”
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