{"id":860792,"date":"2026-08-19T12:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860792\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T12:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:18:11","slug":"nrl-2026-penrith-panthers-forward-liam-martin-wants-a-million-dollars-per-season-or-hell-go-to-market-salary-cap-wests-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860792\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Penrith Panthers forward Liam Martin wants a million dollars per season or he\u2019ll go to market, salary cap, Wests Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penrith forward Liam Martin will ask the Panthers to make him a million-dollar player, which will have other clubs taking notice as the market heats up later in the year.<\/p>\n

Martin told Penrith they needed to agree on contract extension next week or he\u2019d put himself on the open market from November 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Martin, who has won four premierships at Penrith and played 15 State of Origin matches for NSW, will no doubt test his club\u2019s strict salary cap management.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we think of that price?\u201d NRL 360 host Braith Anasta asked the panel on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big decision for Penrith to make because they prioritise some other guys. Obviously they want to try and get Nathan Cleary done,\u201d journalist Brent Read said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA million dollars, that\u2019s going to put a real strain on their salary cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fellow reporter Michael Carayannis said $1 million a season was \u201cat the top end\u201d for a guy like Martin who isn\u2019t a spine player and hasn\u2019t quite been in the sort of form to demand such a lucrative contract. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was awesome for NSW and in Game III when he came back, but he hasn\u2019t been able to reach those heights consistently this year,\u201d Carayannis said. <\/p>\n

Former champion second rower Gorden Tallis thinks Martin either pulls back on his demands or will have to find another club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think Penrith can afford that. Maybe he\u2019s forcing their hand,\u201d Tallis suggested. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019s giving them a deadline. It\u2019s like, \u2018listen, let\u2019s not stuff around. This is what I want. If you guys can\u2019t give it to me, that\u2019s okay, I love you. We\u2019ve worked well together\u2019,\u201d Anasta added. <\/p>\n

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If Penrith doesn\u2019t agree to pay Martin $1 million a season, Read believes a fellow western Sydney club will come knocking. <\/p>\n

He suggested the Wests Tigers should poach Martin even if it costs them one of their brightest young forwards who is also asking for at least $1 million a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon someone might give him that. The Wests Tigers have a situation at the moment where Samuela Fainu is a November 1 guy,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d go and get Liam Martin. I think they should be open to it (paying $1 million). I think he\u2019d be great for that footy club. I think he\u2019d be great for the culture there, I just think he\u2019s a good fit for that footy club. It\u2019s whether he wants to go there, that\u2019s another issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the Tigers, he\u2019d be a more important player for them (than Fainu). Just for their culture, toughness and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anasta said the situation could leave Benji Marshall and the Tigers stewing over what they would do if Martin becomes available.<\/p>\n

The club sees Fainu as their future, but he doesn\u2019t have the credentials of Martin, who showed what a world-class player he is in the Origin decider this year when he dominated the Queensland forwards. <\/a><\/p>\n

Liam Martin wants big money for his next deal.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also a Clive Churchill medallist. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a tough call. You got a kid there that could be a potential superstar, not quite there yet, but he\u2019s showed a lot of promise. That\u2019s the challenge that clubs have,\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you keep this kid? Do you keep investing in him? Do you pay him overs to stay thinking that he\u2019s going to reach his potential, or do you just go get a NSW back rower.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read was adamant the Tigers should chase Martin for what he would bring to the club on and off the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor next year, the pressure\u2019s going to be on Benji. I think they need to make some signings and I know Liam Martin won\u2019t be there next year, but just think he\u2019ll be good for their culture,\u201d Read said. <\/p>\n

Former Penrith premiership winner Craig Gower thought Martin was worth about $800,000 while Ben Elias disagreed and said the club should pay him the $1 million he\u2019s asking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penrith forward Liam Martin will ask the Panthers to make him a million-dollar player, which will have other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-860792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860792","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=860792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}