{"id":684286,"date":"2026-05-21T02:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684286\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:39:17","slug":"blow-for-panthers-fans-as-state-of-origin-player-reportedly-wont-be-re-signing-with-nrl-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684286\/","title":{"rendered":"Blow for Panthers fans as State of Origin player reportedly won’t be re-signing with NRL club"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Penrith Panthers<\/a> are reportedly \u2018resigned\u2019 to losing representative winger Brian To\u2019o<\/a>, who appears set to leave the NRL<\/a> club at the end of 2027. To\u2019o is one of a number of Panthers stars off contract for 2028<\/a>, along with Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo, Liam Martin, Mitch Kenny and Paul Alamoti.<\/p>\n

Coach Ivan Cleary has already announced<\/a> he\u2019ll be stepping down at the end of 2027, while son Nathan, Yeo and Martin have all stated they\u2019re open to testing the free agency market. On Wednesday, Zero Tackle<\/a> reported that To\u2019o has told his camp that he won\u2019t be re-signing with Penrith past 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Brian To’o (second from right) has reportedly opted not to re-sign with Penrith. Image: Getty<\/p>\n

The Panthers are said to be \u201cresigned to losing\u201d To\u2019o, with \u201csources linked to the winger\u201d stating he \u201cwon\u2019t be re-signing with the Panthers beyond the end of 2027.\u201d The 27-year-old has won four premierships at the Panthers across a 144-game career, as well as playing 15 State of Origin games for NSW and 11 Tests for Samoa.<\/p>\n

To\u2019o is on $625,000 per year at Penrith and has always accepted less money to stay, rather than seek bigger money at a cashed-up rival club. But that appears set to change, and the PNG Chiefs will be on the box-seat to sign him.<\/p>\n

To\u2019o\u2019s close friend Jarome Luai has already signed with PNG<\/a> for 2028, and the lure of tax-free money will be hard to ignore. Luai was To\u2019o\u2019s best man at his wedding and the pair are still close from their days at the Panthers together.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Brian To’o looks likely to leave the Panthers.<\/p>\n

(Brendon Thorne via Getty Images)Ivan Cleary\u2019s decision won\u2019t affect Nathan<\/p>\n

To\u2019o is being touted as the first domino to fall in what could be a major period of change for the Panthers. Speaking last week, Nathan Cleary said his father\u2019s decision to step down won\u2019t sway his own plans for the future.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t change my position,” he said. “I’m still not ready to make that decision yet and that won’t change over the next six-to-eight-week period. It’s pretty hectic as it is.<\/p>\n

“It’s obviously been big news, but it hasn’t changed my position. I can guarantee nothing will happen over the next little period.”<\/p>\n

Nathan predicted the appointment of Peter Wallace to take over from Ivan will be a huge incentive for players to re-sign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Penrith Panthers are reportedly \u2018resigned\u2019 to losing representative winger Brian To\u2019o, who appears set to leave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,273806,5098,44184,1203,761,762,158,4598,329875,85,5991],"class_list":["post-684286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-to","tag-ivan-cleary","tag-liam-martin","tag-nathan-cleary","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-son-nathan","tag-sports","tag-the-panthers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684286","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=684286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}