Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher slams ‘thoughtless’ Gorden Tallis after Broncos great accused Penrith of cheating to win two premierships in a row

Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher has slammed rugby league great Gorden Tallis after he made the bombshell suggestion that they and other premiership-winning teams had rorted the salary cap to win the competition.

Tallis enraged many Penrith fans by claiming they have been part of the salary cap cheating he believes has been widespread in the NRL, while defending the Storm for celebrating the 2007 and 2009 premierships that were stripped for systemic cap cheating.

‘How many teams have won the grand final in the last five years and been under [the cap]?’ Tallis asked on Fox Sports’ NRL 360.

‘Unless you’re a Roosters or a Melbourne fan, then you are s***ty, but they [the Storm] won those [2007 and 2009] trophies.

‘Can you win the NRL without cheating the salary cap? I think the fans when they see Penrith run out and you look at the talent they’ve got and you are supporting the Wests Tigers … you go, “I don’t think we can beat them”. 

Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher Pictured) said the accusations were thoughtless and defamatory

 ‘If the salary cap is fair, the talent should be fair, shouldn’t it?’

The Panthers, who have won the last two premierships, have vehemently denied the claims from Tallis – with Fletcher labelling the remarks ‘thoughtless’. 

‘The truth is they are actually defamatory,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘To imply that this club is cheating the cap is an insult to the people at this club who work in cap management, roster management, recruitment and coaching. 

‘It’s an insult to our players as well who won the comps fair and square, and they don’t deserve to have a shadow cast over their name.

‘The NRL had no issue with us or our cap, so I don’t know why these comments are being made. 

‘The fact is we won a comp paying $600,000 for Waqa Blake and Reg [Reagan Campbell-Gillard] at another club [Parramatta]. We do the development of players to get the results we do. In fact, we develop players for other clubs, too.

‘We could field two teams in the comp with the best players we develop and, unfortunately, we have had to make tough decisions and allow players to leave to be under the cap. You can look through the entire NRL and see our former players at plenty of teams. We comply by the cap.’

Tallis couldn’t provide proof to back up his claims about salary cap cheating

Fletcher pointed out that the Panthers won the 2021 title (pictured) despite actually paying part of Waqa Blake and Regan Campbell-Gillard’s salaries while they were at other clubs  

The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield asked Tallis to provide evidence for his cheating claims during the fiery debate, but he couldn’t back them up.

However, Tallis doubled down on his belief that the Storm should be able to celebrate the stripped premierships. 

‘Listen, Melbourne Storm won, unless you’re a Storm fan I reckon you’re shitty, but they won those trophies. In my mind, as a footy fan, they’ve got a right to put them there,’ he said.