The Penrith Panthers have released Michael Jennings from his contract in a move that has allowed the New South Wales State Of Origin center to sign for the Sydney Roosters on a four year deal.
This is a great move for Jennings and the Sydney Roosters. During his entire career at the Panthers Jennings played in some terrible teams and got terrible ball most of the time. Playing outside of Pearce and Maloney will do his game the world of good.
Jennings is an out and out game breaker. He can make something out of absolutely nothing. He gives the Roosters a huge strike weapon out wide and hopefully he can just go out and play the game now without having to deal with off field pressures.
That brings me back to the Penrith Panthers…
This is how the Penrith Panthers announced Michael Jennings release to their fan base:
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I don’t care what club it is, that is a disgraceful way to treat your own fan base.
The club later released a statement in which the club thanked Jennings for his contribution to the Panthers. It then finished “Out of respect for the Roosters and Michael, the Panthers will make no further comment on this matter.”.
That is great, but did anyone at the Panthers stop to think that maybe they have a responsibility to their own supporter base to explain their decision to release Jennings, how that would effect the teams salary cap, and if they had any replacements in mind for the upcoming 2013 season?
There are people that have bought season tickets from the club with the thought that Michael Jennings will be playing in the side. The Panthers are not doing anyone any favours by saying more than “No comment”. You would think it would simply be a case of common courtesy to address fans, but no.
Because of this silence from the club it is not clear at the moment if the Panthers will be paying any portion of Jennings contract to play for the Roosters. As a Panthers fan….they club just doesn’t feel the need to explain anything to me.
I really hope things turn out well for Jennings. He is a western Sydney junior, born and raised out here, and his success is something that I enjoy watching.
As for the Panthers….another year….more disappointment….
I think Jennings can be a great player and a change of scenery is what he really needed. Its just a shame that he hasn’t played his best football of late and his off field issues and large contract certainly added to the need to release him.
I understand there will be some upset fans out there, but overall I buy my membership to watch the team play, not a specific player.
As a Panthers supporter, I believe this is the right move for the club, it rids the team of a good player with off field issues and frees up a lot of salary cap room to enable the team to find players to address the gaps within the team.
I may be in the minority but I like the move.
I personally believe that his supposed off field issues were blown way out of proportion. We have signed players from other clubs that have done far worse.