Anthony Griffin Released

From watching Gould & now Griffin, I suggest a good dose of integrity walked out the door on Monday. It is a very poor few days for the spirit of our club - we are not the f&*$ing Roosters. If I was Ivan & watched it, I would be sure thinking twice before coming back.

I hope the team can put all this distraction behind them and finish off the season well.

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What a fascinating drama … I attend my first game in a year and all this unfolds.

Pretty sure I said - around 4 years ago - that Penrith was looking more and more like the Roosters in the way it operated. Almost twins now - history repeating.

Now if all this has been done to manouevre the Clearys’ future - and that is how it looks - our club is potentially facing some serious problems.

Still I do think our chances of winning the premiership this year just went up a notch.

Gus will be inspiring for the players - he will make them believe the world is against them and it is up to them to band together and fight. Gus works best in an “us and them” situation, he needs an enemy (or enemies) and he can get players to fight the good fight.

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Can we just sign someone and get on with football please

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Yes I don’t know that Gould thinks things thru too much - not his style. I like Ivan & think he is a good coach, but whether he has the ability to have us performing too Gould’s satisfaction is not a given. So, pull off a master stroke and retain Nathan by signing Ivan and then at some point need to move on from Ivan - where does that leave us re Nathan?

After watching Hook on NRL360 last night it has become clear the problem is a difference if philosophy and a breakdown in communication between Gus and Hook.

I have been a firm believer in letting a coach do their thing, but I have a feeling Hook was micromanaged by Gus and Hook has taken offence to that (and rightly so).

This whole ordeal has left a bitter taste, and frankly I wish it would be over with already, but with the path for Ivan Cleary set, I don’t see this ending anytime soon.

Needless to say this has tarnished the image of our club.

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I agree with Ben Ikin’s statement last night when it was suggested by Griffin that Gus couldn’t get his way with Griffin so he used CC and Wal to try and influence Hook. Ben’s words, “all that does is create a toxic working environment”.

The big thing for me was Hook stood by his morals, Gus stood by his agenda and the board should have a massive wake up call. He is not the messiah and he HAS brought the Panthers into disrepute with his agenda.

If we go onto any kind of success this year, Gus will take all the credit, and if we fail miserably he should be gone immediately !

There has been murmurs within the supporter base after all that has been revealed last night that if Gus fails to secure Ivan he should fall on his sword.

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I was impressed by how hook came across last night. But after watching the show 3 times I came to the conclusion that the truth lies somewhere in between these two men (Hook & Gus) take on events.
To Hook’s credit I agree that he did bring many Juniors into 1st grade and was brave enough to do so. But to suggest he was the one to build all the pathways so these juniors could become NRL standard players draws a very long bow indeed. He suggests that the place was in disarray by the end of 2015 season is not accurate from where I sit.
It is true that we had an ordinary 2015 plagued by injuries. It was the second year running that this had been the case where somehow in 2014 we made our way to the Qualifying final with Ivan Cleary as the coach. Ivan Cleary was sacked at the end of 2015 season as we all know a decision by Gus I strongly disagreed with at the time and still do.
The problem I’ve got with Hook’s comments last night was he completely ignores the hard yards that was done in the five years previous to him arriving for example we had already won multiple premierships in junior and lower grades by then, we already had identified young talent by the that time like RCG, Dylan Edwards, Tyrone May, Moses Leota, Nathan Cleary and many more.
As I said before the truth is in between somewhere and I agree Gus is not the messiah but don’t forget our history before Hook arrived.
For my two cents I believe Ivan Cleary will be coach next year. I know the Tigers are talking the tough talk atm known as Sabre rattling in the business world and in 12 months time if the team is playing well we will forget all about this crap of bringing Panthers into disrepute and if not it might be time for Gus to fall on his sword or the board to raise the axe on him!

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I don’t think hook was questioning the work of Cleary prior to his arrival, he (Ivan) certainly had a basket case to deal with. He did however state that if Gould was there for the 5 years prior, with the “building the club” as his mantra, he wasnt doing his job !

IMO Hook was referring to the way the juniors were being brought through and in turn educated. He did reference the special talents such as RCG and Edwards etc who have played 1st grade early, but went on to say they were miles away in terms of training and educating juniors in how hard it is to be 1st grade players.

I was impressed with his comments, I was happy with him as coach also. His training methods are in a similar vein to my thought process. I have mentioned many times, he is the reason we are so good in the last 20 minutes, because he has the entire playing group capable of playing the full 80.

I stand by my comment, there is no way I would work for Gus, your tenure is unknown based on his emotions.

Kevin… go back and look at how we were sitting at the end of 2011, then you would see the definition of a club in disarray. Before you go back and throw the baby out with the bath water on a coach (Hook), on the strength of one interview! Let’s not forget he coached at the Broncos before and took a whole bunch of Juniors to a certain level with all the resources in the worl but could not go that extra mile with them, sound familiar!!!

I never want to think about the ME era…

We will agree to disagree Wazza, I was supportive of everything he was doing with Penrith and his interview further heightens my liking of the bloke. The Peter Wallace situation shows the character of the bloke, able to drop a player who is underperforming at one club with talent coming through, only to re-ignite that players desire under his coaching at a new club, both parties showed extreme professionalism, I can’t say the same for Gus and his decision making.

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Fair enough Kevin, I can respect your point of view without agreeing with it. I can also respect that you care, as I do!!!:+1:

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Cheers Wazza, your one of the few who don’t have the blinkers on :+1:

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Cam Ciraldo just absolutely nailed the ‘Final Word’. What a true professional. Good things to come under his leadership. Onwards and Upwards.

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I found it interesting that Ciraldo tried to quit twice while Hook was in charge, but Gus talked him out of it. I wonder how many other stories like this are lurking in the background?

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When I heard this last night from Gus, I was skeptical. having listened to Gus make statements in the past and the opposite happening it’s understandable that people would be wary of it’s accuracy. But in this mornings presser by Cameron Ciraldo, he confirmed it.

Cam wasn’t specific in his reasoning for his 2 resignations, or what was said to him to keep him in his position, but I guess it was implied by Gus that Hook was one of this reasons (otherwise why bring it up?).

This turbulence is far from over. We have heard pretty much from every party now;

  • Phil Gould (Penrith Panthers General Manager)
  • Brian Fletcher (Penrith Panthers CEO)
  • Cameron Ciraldo (Penrith Panthers Interim Coach)
  • James Maloney (Penrith Panthers Captain)
  • Anthony Griffin (Penrith Panthers Former Coach)
  • Justin Pascoe (Wests Tigers CEO)
  • Marina Go (West Tigers Chairperson)

Unfortunately this won’t be put to bed until one more person come forward and adds their part to this story and their response to it, Ivan Cleary. The one common thread from most of the statements and interview, is that at some point Ivan Cleary has met with Panthers and communicated to West Tigers that an offer had beed tabled (despite Gus denying this, but almost in the same breath saying he has nothing to do with it.)

The fact the Tiger felt the need to have an emergency meeting about it, indicates there is truth to the Ivan Cleary story and he might be seriously considering the offer.

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Gould just had to get one more stab in at the end of the ‘interview’ on Ch9 - what a crock that was, with softie Erin conducting the interview, good mates Freddy and Girds. What could be expected from 9?

Anyway, after Gould rubbishing Foxsports, major supplier of $'s to NRL thru the TV deal, he then drops his bombshell that Ciraldo had resigned twice because of the way the ‘head coach’ treated him. Clearly this was to further belittle & rubbish Griffin, but maybe we don’t want a coach (even a temp) who goes to the big boss when his boss upsets him - perhaps these resignations speak more of the ‘Gus runs the club’ culture & Ciraldo being soft??

Apparently Cleary is to speak in an hour, reportedly to confirm he is staying at the tiges. Stand by for the next episode in the Panthers soapie.

Oh that’s right. We have a game today. C’mon boys, let’s get it done despite the distractions.

So, according to Cleary he didn’t speak to Panthers regarding his taking up the coaching position. My observation is that if this was the case he could have put the issue to bed several days ago.

Maybe he didn’t think it was his case to put to bed. I don’t recall him making a public announcement about it at all. Sometimes saying nothing in response to nothing is the best option - trying to deny things seemingly always opens up a can of those darn worms.

In any case we have no coach for 2019, probably have diminished our chances of re-signing Nathan, and Gould says we have no plan B. Seems we never even had a Plan A, except in someone’s head?? What a great situation. Gould will spin it with his media mates, but I suggest either he, O’Neill and Fletcher, or maybe all 3 should go.

I personally am happy that Ivan has stuck to his contract, but where we are at now I don’t know.

I feel so sorry for the players and us fans.

Ivan wouldn’t answer questions, so in essence we can speculate what wasn’t said.

Has he agreed to terms with Penrith beyond his current contract? That could still be in play.

However that still leaves us without a coach for the next 2 years.

Ciraldo ?
Maguire ?
Hasler ? Heaven forbid
Sheens ?
Cartwright? Gus has ruled out but who knows
Barrett ? Gus as ruled out - could he perform better without DCE?
Brennan ? Has the horse bolted? Would he be any good away from the retirement home that is the titans?

Wonder if Elliot applied - joking with flame suit on lol.

Is John Lang still interested?

How long a list could we create?

(Couldn’t bring my self to add Simmons to the list, despite the respect I have for him building the team that won us our last premiership)