NRL News: Payten - Cowboys owe Green 'great debt', Dragons to splash cash for Hunt, Manly support Fainu

Cowboys coach Todd Payten said his players were dealing with the tragic news about Paul Green “in their own ways” and they are determined to honour their premiership-winning mentor by performing well as possible under the circumstances against the Roosters at the SCG.

Payten held his captain’s run media conference in Townsville on Friday morning before the second-placed team flew south for the crucial clash with the Roosters, coincidentally the club where Green served as an assistant coach before joining North Queensland in 2014 and guiding them to the premiership the following season.

Following Green’s sudden death on Thursday morning, club chairman Lewis Ramsay said he would be forever remembered “as one of the greatest contributors in Cowboys history”.

“There’s a fair motivation about what’s ahead of us this weekend and who we’re playing and what we’re doing,” Payten said. “It’s been a difficult 24 hours and as a club and as a group we just have to put our arms around each other and keep an eye out for any signs.

“At the end of the day I guess it’s a good reminder of how fortunate we are to do what we do and we’d like to perform well in Paul’s honour.

“They’ve all been a little bit different in their own ways. Some guys have got a long history with Paul. I reached out to those guys yesterday and had a chat.

“We understand that grief affects people differently at dfferent times and the club has been great in making sure resources around staff and players to make sure that they can come up with strategies to best deal with that and talk through how they’re feeling.”

Payten said he personally owed Green a great debt of gratitude for employing him as an assistant coach in the 2015 when they won the competition, serving under him until the end of 2018.

“Myself and my family owe him a great deal of attitude,” Payten said. “He gave me an opportunity to come up here when I didn’t have a job, and that was his decision. He made me a better coach in many different ways, he certainly challenged everyone around him to be better and he was good company.”

Green led the club to two grand finals in three years, transforming a side with NRL great Jonathan Thurston and his legacy as North Queensland’s maiden premiership-winning coach is cemented.

Asked if he felt pressure in filling the big shoes Green left behind following a golden era in Cowboys’ history, Payten said he never looked at it that way.

“He is always going to be the coach of our maiden premiership here and will be etched in our history books,” Payten said. “He’s had a significant contribution to our club and he’s going to be sorely missed.”

The coach said veteran prop Jordan McLean has been cleared to make his return from a hamstring injury via the interchange bench and that no players had requested missing the match due to the Green tragedy.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Dragons set to splash cash for Hunt

St George Illawarra look set to re-sign captain Ben Hunt beyond the end of his multimillion-dollar contract next year by tabling a contract extension.

The club and Hunt have held preliminary discussions and News Corp has reported the joint-venture board has given CEO Ryan Webb the go-ahead to offer a big-dollar deal for 2024 and 2025.

Hunt has been in career-best form and is one of the favourites for the Dally M Medal despite his team’s average season.

The Dragons are 11th heading into Sunday’s road game against Canberra and need to win all four of their remaining matches to have any chance of squeezing into the playoffs.

Young playmaker Jayden Sullivan, who is under contract for four more seasons, could seek a release if Hunt agrees to terms at the Dragons with Canterbury the frontrunner for his services if he leaves Wollongong.

Sea Eagles support Fainu after guilty verdict

NRL club Manly will continue to offer support to hooker Manase Fainu, who was found guilty of stabbing a youth leader at a church dance in Sydney’s west almost three years ago.

Fainu, now 24, has been subject to the NRL’s No Fault Stand Down policy since October 2019, when he was charged with wounding Faamanu Levi with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Jurors at the District Court took just over two hours to find Fainu guilty on Thursday, but his barrister Margaret Cunneen SC has indicated the verdict will be appealed. Fainu has not played for the Sea Eagles since the 2019 finals series, but coach Des Hasler and CEO Tony Mestrov reiterated their support for the hooker on Friday. 

“As we’ve done throughout this whole process, we’re going to support Manase in any way we can, particularly from a wellbeing point of view,” Mestrov said.

Hasler said the judicial process had been “tough” on Fainu and his family. “It’s been a three-year process and in that time all the support we’ve been able to give has been much needed,” he said. “It’s just a shock. It’s three years this has been going on for. It hasn’t been easy on him.”

Manase Fainu (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

After Fainu’s breakout 2019 season, the Sea Eagles opted not to renew the contract of premiership-winning hooker Apisai Koroisau and instead identified Fainu as their long-term No.9.

Fainu’s inability to play ruined those plans with the Sea Eagles forced to sign Danny Levi to cover the position, before turning to current hooker Lachlan Croker.

Koroisau has since gone on to play career-best football with Penrith, winning a premiership and earning his first State of Origin cap in 2021. “You call them sliding door moments. That’s just part of the way things transpire,” Hasler said.

Hasler said he could not comment on whether Fainu would play professional rugby league again. “At the moment, that is still to be determined,” he said. “Regardless, the Fainu name will still have a very heavy involvement in the club. Until (the court proceedings) are determined, best leave it at that.”