Penrith haven’t been everyone’s kettle of fish during their golden run in recent years but they deserve a pat on the back this week. A healthy dollop of praise.
The Panthers have led the way when it comes to developing players and now they have set the standard when it comes to dealing with them.
Penrith could have stood in
James Fisher-Harris’ way
when he asked the club to release him on compassionate grounds to return to New Zealand.
They could have demanded a player in return. They could have insisted on a transfer fee. They could have held him to his contract rather than weaken their own team.
That, however, would have been the unconscionable thing to do. They owed Fisher-Harris more than that. They owed him the opportunity to return to New Zealand and end his career on his terms.
It was the least they could do because as good as they have been for him, he has been for them. They have helped him win premierships and he has done the same in return.
He arrived at Penrith as a teenager from a small country town on the north island of NZ, so naive he had to be taught how to catch a bus and a train.
James Fisher-Harris arrived at the Panthers as a teen. Picture: Jenny Evans
He had barely a cent to his name and lived above a stables on a farm on Mulgoa Road with former teammate Corey Harawira-Naera.
They had no airconditioning, no blankets and worked the horses to make some cash and finance their dream. Fisher-Harris once laughingly referred to the horses as his roommates.
He toiled away on the farm but was even more relentless in his pursuit of his rugby league career as he became one of the premier enforcers in the NRL.
He had grown up wanting to pull on an All Black jersey but ended up playing for the Kiwis, where he has become a reverential figure among his teammates.
He has made it big. Not many have made it bigger than the brooding Panthers prop but he has been dealing with inner turmoil in recent times, separated from his family and an ill grandfather.
So Fisher-Harris worked up the courage to ask the Panthers for the chance to head home. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Within days, he had requested a release, reached out to the Warriors and inked a deal that will make him the cornerstone of their forward pack.
The time had come and Fisher-Harris will leave Penrith at the end of the season as arguably the best prop in the game, with at least three and potentially four titles to his name.
Fisher-Harris is one of the most feared props in the game. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
He has run roughshod at times over his opponents, his intimidating stare winning most battles before they began. He has ripped in with little respect for himself or his body. His poor games you could count on one hand.
They have been few and far between. Nathan Cleary has provided the brilliance for Penrith in recent years. Fisher-Harris has chimed in with the brutality. Great teams have equal parts both.
He will be sorely missed at the foot of the mountains when he departs not just for what he does on the field but for the impact he has off it.
Penrith will be armed with plenty of salary cap space – a pleasant change for a club that has consistently lost players due to the cap squeeze in recent years – but ask them and they would prefer to have Fisher-Harris in their ranks.
His presence at Penrith demands respect and the Panthers recognised that this week when they agreed to let him leave with two years remaining on his contract.
A few years back, Fisher-Harris insisted there was nothing for him back home for him.
“Only family,” he said.
They now need him and Penrith were right not to stand in his way. The rest of the competition will no doubt be celebrating a decision that weakens a dynasty,
What they should be doing is taking note.
. AFB is that dude, and he'll come out tomorrow to give everyone a little reminder.
