Jennings gets the Bulldogs barking
AFTER snaring mid-season recruit Krisnan Inu from the Warriors reserve grade team, the Bulldogs hope to add NSW centre Michael Jennings to their roster before the June 30 deadline.
With the 24-year-old State of Origin star’s future at Penrith far from certain, it is understood the Bulldogs have already discussed with Jennings’s management group the possibility of a switch to Belmore.
The A$600,000 ($775,000)-a-season player is on the outer with the Panthers’ hierarchy due to his inconsistent form and attitude and was recently dropped to the team’s feeder club, the Windsor Wolves, before last Wednesday’s Origin match in Melbourne.
Last year he was punished twice for alcohol-related misdemeanours, one of which carried a A$10,000 fine. He is on the sidelines this weekend after being suspended for one match for rushing in to throw a punch during the first-half brawl during the Blues’ loss to Queensland. With the Panthers having the bye next weekend, he is not expected to return to the field until the second Origin match in Sydney on June 13.
The Bulldogs, along with Eels, are courting Sea Eagles powerhouse Tony Williams to add to their forward pack next year, showed they are keen to back players with natural ability by signing Inu from the Warriors last week.
Inu was released by the Warriors because the club could not justify having a player paid A$250,000-aseason in their second-tier squad.
The Bulldogs are quietly celebrating because not only does the 25-year-old goalkicker help cover their outside backs – he can play wing, fullback and centre – but coach Des Hasler believes he is a superstar-in-waiting because he has not yet been coached properly.
Former Panthers stalwart Mark Geyer appealed for the bosses of his old club to offer Jennings a ‘‘cuddle’’ and ‘‘bit of love’’ to get the best out of him. Jennings was one of his state’s best in Wednesday’s Origin match and Geyer maintained there was no reason why he could not produce similar football for the 15th-placed Panthers.
‘‘That State of Origin match was his best game of the season,’’ said the Panthers’ No 1 season ticket holder. ‘‘Every time he touched the ball he looked dangerous and it’s what Penrith fans want him to do every week, and he’s capable of doing it every week.
‘‘He’s a special player and all I know is he’s one of the reasons why I walk through the gate to watch the game. [Penrith have] just needed to show him some love. They just need to come out and say whether they wanted to get rid of him or whether they wanted to keep him. There’s nothing worse for a player than hearing rumour and innuendo about his future.’’
Geyer had his own dramas during his first stint at Penrith, from 1987-92. After playing a starring role in the club’s 1991 grand final win he left after a falling out with the club’s hierarchy. He returned to see out the final four years of his career after playing for Balmain and the Western Reds. He said he would be happy to relate his own experience of talent wasted in a heart-to-heart with Jennings.
‘‘Of course I’d talk to the kid,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s worth persevering with such a great player. I think the whole thing, all this innuendo and talk of the club wanting to auction him off, must be affecting him. If it’s about money, it’s not the kid’s fault the previous administration paid him as much as they did.
‘‘I hear they keep talking about his attitude [but I think] he just needs someone from the Panthers to say, ‘we want you’ or ‘we don’t’. They need to say, ‘let’s get over this hurdle because we want you to play like you did in the Origin match’, where he was one of NSW’S best.
‘‘He’s the type of bloke who’d stick up for his mates. People say he’s not a team player, but he ran a long way to get involved to help out his mates.’’