NRL news 2023, Penrith Panthers squeeze with Dylan Edwards and Jarome Luai, Andrew Johns exclusive
League legend Andrew Johns has issued a warning to Penrith superstar Dylan Edwards as a salary cap squeeze threatens to push him out of the club.
The Panthers may have to choose between fullback Edwards and his five-eighth Jarome Luai when the pair become free agents in November.
Both have been integral players in the Panthers’ consecutive premierships, and Edwards was last year judged the Clive Churchill Medallist in their grand final win over Parramatta.
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While he is yet to reach representative level, Edwards has earned a reputation as one of the best and most important fullbacks in the NRL.
Luai, while playing second fiddle to halfback Nathan Cleary at club level, has two premierships and five State of Origin appearances to his name at age 26.
If either player was to hit the open market there would no doubt be a line of rival clubs fighting to table offers that would undoubtedly beat anything Penrith could afford to pay them.
The Panthers have Cleary, his co-captain Isaah Yeo, and Kiwi prop James Fisher-Harris tied down on long-term deals worth significant cash, leaving the remaining salary cap to be spread over the other 27 players in the squad.
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When asked whether Edwards or Luai would be a bigger loss to his former club, Brad Fittler could not decide.
“These days a No.1 is so important,” he said.
“But then again when you talk about Penrith, Nathan and Jarome have been playing together since they were 16.”
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Johns hopes the Panthers are able to hold onto both Edwards and Luai long-term.
But if the fullback does leave, the eighth Immortal has a warning for him.
“I have a feeling that when push comes to shove, Dylan Edwards would take a whole lot less (money) to stay at Penrith, and I think Jarome would too,” Johns told Wide World of Sports’ Freddy and the Eighth.
“The only warning I would say to Dylan is if you look at some of the other outside backs who have left Penrith, and aren’t playing outside the brilliance of Yeo and Nathan Cleary… if you’re going to go, you would want to go where there’s some really good halves.
“If you’re playing with some average halves you’re not getting the ball in good positions.”
Johns, though, is livid Penrith has to pay a price for the club’s success.
The Panthers have the best junior academy system in the NRL, which is largely credited for the NRL team’s success in recent years.
But the fact they may now have to choose between two premiership stars due to salary cap pressure has Johns seeing red.
“This is where it’s so wrong,” he said.
“The salary cap needs to have dispensation for local juniors, or kids who have come through a system since they were 15 or 16.
“If you identify a player like Dylan Edwards at 16, he comes down, they put him up, they put so much work into him, then he gets to a stage in his mid-to-late 20s when he’s absolutely flying, there’s no dispensation for that 10 or 12 years you’ve put into him.
“That time and effort and work they’ve put into him adds up.”
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