Penrith Panthers may not be able to afford to re-sign Taylan May, coach Ivan Cleary says he had to watch last year’s grand final this week
Holding on to every star remains a battle for Penrith and coach Ivan Cleary concedes the club may not be able to keep strike centre Taylan May as rivals circle the young gun.
May, 22, is the highest-profile Panther off contract at the end of this year and, having missed 2023 through injury, has impressed in his two games to start 2024.
Penrith is keen to keep the Samoa international and has begun formal talks about a new deal, but other clubs could, as they did with star playmaker Jarome Luai, throw more money in his direction.
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May’s brother Terrell, who plays at the Roosters, has spoken about his desire for the pair to play together and the impending departures of Joey Manu and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii leave them with a hole to fill.
Cleary knows the offers will come for May and shut down questions about the young gun on Wednesday.
“Don’t know, not sure,” Cleary said when asked if May will stay.
“I don’t know (if I’m confident).
”I haven’t been reading the articles… I don’t know.
”I’m not discussing it.
“We would love Taylan to stay. He knows that.”
The price of achieving the ultimate success means losing players, which is nothing new to the Panthers who have won three straight NRL premierships to be the benchmark team of the competition.
Those victories also allow a different perspective on reviewing the decider that Cleary and the Panthers, unlike beaten coach Kevin Walters and his Broncos players, have looked at this week.
But Cleary, who has said previously that losing the 2020 grand final to Melbourne helped fuel his club’s stunning run, noted there was a key reason that he and his coaching staff had taken a closer look at last year’s game.
“We refer to the grand final through our preview for the game just because it’s the last we played them,” he said on Wednesday.
Cleary did, however, also say his team had “not discussed” the rematch element of the clash.
The Panthers are a different looking outfit having lost star centre Stephen Crichton to the Bulldogs, the biggest in a line of guns who have moved on from Penrith with premiership medallions.
The Panthers will be without star prop James Fisher-Harris with a shoulder injury and he’s now a week-by-week proposition.
But his loss has been offset by the Broncos losing fellow forward star Payne Haas, who will miss the clash at BlueBet Stadium along with injured Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds.
