Rugby converts respond to PNG links; Roosters veteran\u2019s one-club ultimatum \u2014 Transfer Whispers<\/a><\/p>\nMichael Chammas, PNG\u2019s GM of Football, speaks after the signing of Jarome Luai.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Chiefs General Manager of Football Michael Chammas has dismissed claims around the club having an unfair advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the people who are criticising us around having that advantage, I think it\u2019s shortsighted because the game will benefit from having PNG thrive,\u201d Chammas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the long-term if this works, it\u2019s better for everyone in the game. To have a country with 10-12 million people, whose footy team is thriving, is what we want to achieve as a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand that clubs have self-interest in making sure they don\u2019t lose players. It is bigger than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chammas confirming despite concerns, the tax-free break will not be going away any time soon either.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Australian government, the PNG government announced over a year ago their plans for it to be tax free,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the undertaking and there\u2019s no plans to go away from that. So, yeah, we\u2019re completely comfortable in the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chammas later fired back at Richardson\u2019s criticisms \u2014 and took a jab at the out clause in Luai\u2019s Wests Tigers contract, implemented by \u2018Richo\u2019, that allowed the Chiefs to strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a badge of honour for us, to be honest with you, because I think a year ago people were saying\u2026 who\u2019s going to go to Port Moresby? Why would you leave to go there? It\u2019ll be a rabble, it\u2019s a disgrace,\u201d Chammas said on SEN.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these comments were being made around PNG, and all of a sudden after signing Jarome Luai, people are saying, \u2018it\u2019s unfair now\u2019. So, the narrative has shifted in the space of 24-48 hours, and that\u2019s just on the back of Jarome (Luai), and that\u2019s obviously we\u2019ve got Willie Peters there as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo to us, it\u2019s a badge of honour, that\u2019s sort of a reflection of the person that we\u2019ve brought in, that people are now sitting back and taking notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have an issue with what Gus (Gould) said. I don\u2019t know what issue\u2019s been made of what he said, so no issues whatsoever there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd look, Richo, we\u2019re thankful because I guess there was a clause there that allowed us to get involved and have a chat with Jarome before April 30th. So it\u2019s great that we were able to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson has unloaded on PNG\u2019s roster advantages.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
South Sydney Rabbitohs winger and the NRL\u2019s all-time leading try scorer Alex Johnston is set to join Luai at the Chiefs, with questions as to what other off-contract stars could be lured to the new club.<\/p>\n
Two in question are Panthers guns Isaah Yeo and Brian To\u2019o who are free to talk to clubs come November 1st this year, and come off contract at the end of 2027. <\/p>\n
They join the likes of Liam Martin and Nathan Cleary at the club who are all free to talk at the end of this year, but Yeo and To\u2019o in particular didn\u2019t deny any interests in the Chiefs this week.<\/p>\n
Considering they won four premierships in a row with Luai, and To\u2019o in particular being a close friend, they may be tempted to join the new project.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something Yeo wouldn\u2019t rule out when quizzed on it on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a big long list of us off contract at the end of the year. For myself personally, I think you just have to be open minded,\u201d Yeo said when asked if would consider PNG as an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you what the club (Penrith) wants to do and there are a lot of dominoes to fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, come this time around I have to be really open minded in that regard and make a call then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking anyway, there might be a few of the boys thinking like that as well, that there is going to be a time when we have to be open minded and that might be this November 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isaah Yeo says he\u2019s open-minded about a potential PNG offer.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Yeo hinting Cleary\u2019s contract decision will be the first domino to fall. Cleary staying could lead to a salary cap squeeze, while on the other hand it could also entice players to stay and continue to play with the New South Wales half.<\/p>\n
Though with the Chiefs in the headlines this week ahead of their 2028 entry, there\u2019s one club in particular who need to put a squad together now. That squad is the Perth Bears.<\/p>\n
They have been quietly chipping away in the background piecing together a squad to begin their life in the NRL next season.<\/p>\n
Players confirmed include Nick Meaney (Melbourne Storm), Luke Laulilii (Wests Tigers), Sean Russell (Parramatta Eels), Tyran Wishart (Melbourne Storm), Siosifa Talakai (Cronulla Sharks), Scott Sorensen (Penrith Panthers), Liam Henry (Penrith Panthers) and Toby Sexton (Catalans Dragons).<\/p>\n
While there is a strong core of quality NRL players already signed for the Bears, the Chiefs luring a four-time premiership winning and State of Origin half as well as the NRL\u2019s all-time leading try scorer as their first two signings has raised questions of fairness when Perth have less time to field a team.<\/p>\n
Chammas believes the Bears won\u2019t have any issues when their time comes in round one next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerth have put together a pretty strong roster,\u201d Chammas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that we have our own challenges around being so far away from Sydney, from Brisbane and they\u2019re going to have some logistic challenges being five or six hours away (from those cities), but we know that with Mal Meninga at the helm they\u2019re obviously building a strong roster there.\u201d<\/p>\n
PNG signing ‘puts pressure on Perth!’ | 02:21<\/p>\n
The NRL 360 panel weren\u2019t so sure the Bears have the stability needed to begin life in the competition well.<\/p>\n
Perth have already seen their head of football David Sharpe resign just last week due to boardroom conflict.<\/p>\n
Adding to concern is the fact they have a year less than the Chiefs to build a team, but without any added benefits in a Western Australia market arguably more isolated from the core NRL base of clubs than PNG.<\/p>\n
Former Rooster Braith Anasta just one of those with issues, believing the Bears will have to \u201cpay overs\u201d for players which could potentially ruin their salary cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to uproot your family and be away from your family … which 99 per cent of the players are going to do in Perth… you might as well take the (tax-free) cash (with PNG),\u201d Anasta told the panel on Fox League.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they need to understand \u2014 the NRL and Perth \u2014 is … how are they going to attract top-tier players if you\u2019ve got all this (boardroom) mess going on?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a player, you want to to go to a steady club, a strong club. We talk about culture and values \u2014 which is what PNG are trying to set the standard with \u2014 you\u2019re behind the eight-ball straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sets the scene for a potential player market frenzy come November this year.<\/p>\n
Clubs will want to lock-in their off-contract star talent before they are free to talk to other clubs, with the PNG tax-free benefits potentially a life-changing lure too good to refuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Papua New Guinea Chiefs have thrown a spanner in the works for the NRL\u2019s player market, hitting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4558,310755,310747,64,63,689,186531,310742,310753,310743,12934,4565,304098,310745,310746,46859,763,59975,5094,4582,262360,310735,310739,11639,27296,4466,183427,99863,184252,673,16299,4609,677,310741,54861,310750,27284,310738,4598,46,69375,310737,310752,310751,310748,668,159,222173,97277,7889,14762,4476,4503,9420,4439,85,670,273956,310740,310749,310754,4440,310744,310736,145367,3439,4515],"class_list":["post-641808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-johnston","tag-all-time-leading","tag-anasta","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-barry-robert-ofarrell","tag-boardroom-conflict","tag-boss-defends","tag-chiefs-tax-break","tag-contract-decision","tag-cronulla-sharks","tag-david-sharpe","tag-dollar-sum","tag-football-michael-chammas","tag-footy-team","tag-fox-league","tag-general-motors-company","tag-isaah-yeo","tag-jarome-luai","tag-jarrod-pollard","tag-kinoka-hotune-feo","tag-logistic-challenges","tag-mal-meninga","tag-melanesia","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-michelle-mcdowell","tag-monique-harmer","tag-national-rugby-league-team-the-wests-tigers-shane-richardson","tag-new-south-wales","tag-newswire-photos","tag-nick-meaney","tag-oceania","tag-off-contract-star-talent","tag-off-contract-stars","tag-one-eye-club-hats","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-pay-overs","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-perth","tag-player-market","tag-player-market-exodus","tag-player-market-frenzy","tag-player-number","tag-premiership-media-launch","tag-press-conference","tag-rugby-league","tag-rugby-league-central","tag-rugby-league-players","tag-salary-cap","tag-salary-cap-squeeze","tag-scott-sorensen","tag-sean-russell","tag-shane-richardson","tag-south-sydney-rabbitohs","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-tax-advantage","tag-tax-break-concerns","tag-tax-free-player-salaries","tag-tax-free-salary-offering","tag-toby-sexton","tag-top-rugby-league","tag-top-tier-challenge","tag-unfair-advantage","tag-western-australia","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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