{"id":393305,"date":"2026-04-23T06:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/393305\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:07:13","slug":"panthers-reject-earns-contract-extension-at-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/393305\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers reject earns contract extension at Knights"},"content":{"rendered":"

It isn’t often the Penrith Panthers<\/a> make a recruitment blunder.<\/p>\n

However, their decision to let Francis Manuleleua<\/a> leave at the end of 2024 may just come back to bite them.<\/p>\n

Manuleleua joined the Newcastle Knights<\/a> ahead of the 2025 season, plying his trade in reserve grade for the entire year before seriously impressing in his first-grade starting debut against the Sydney Roosters<\/a> last weekend.<\/p>\n

A second-rower, he finished the game with one try assist, one tackle break, two line breaks, as well as 35 post-contact metres and 123 run metres.<\/p>\n

That performance, along with consistent displays in the NSW Cup<\/a>, earned the 21-year-old an upgraded deal until the end of the 2028 season, with the option for an extra year.<\/p>\n

The Panthers, who previously had him in their pathway system, reportedly let him go due to his attitude and a lack of skill.<\/p>\n

\"NRLNEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 20: Knights players react to a Sharks try during the round seven NRL match between Newcastle Knights and Cronulla Sharks at McDonald Jones Stadium, on April 20, 2025, in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Scott Gardiner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“The Panthers didn’t rate him – they thought he was too lazy and wasn’t going to make it,” a source told Barry Toohey of the Newcastle Herald.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The Knights saw the upside in him and gave him a three-year deal with the insurance of an option in their favour for the final year. He’ll run out with plenty of motivation on Sunday.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manuleleua has been named to start in the second-row again for this Sunday’s match which is, ironically, against the Panthers, the same club that let him go in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It isn’t often the Penrith Panthers make a recruitment blunder. However, their decision to let Francis Manuleleua leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-393305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}