NRL News: Roosters to pounce on Panthers star, Ravalawa admits Mudgee incident 'a bit dumb', Hynes defends mum

Spencer Leniu is following Stephen Crichton out the door at Penrith at the end of the season but will not be joining him at Canterbury with the Roosters set to win the race for his services.

The 22-year-old front-rower has informed the Panthers he will not be re-signing with the club after they were unable to match offers from rival clubs due to their salary cap squeeze on the back of dual premierships.

Leniu, who was born in Auckland but came through Penrith’s local juniors, is expected to take up a lucrative offer from the Roosters despite the Bulldogs initially trying to get him to Belmore, according to a Sydney Morning Herald report.

With veteran Kiwi international Jared Waerea-Hargreaves retiring or heading to the Super League at the end of the year, the Roosters have a vacancy up front and the cash to splash on Leniu.

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The Samoan international, who faced off against Australia in last year’s World Cup final, has played 61 NRL matches for Penrith since making his debut in 2019, including both Grand Final wins.

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(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

He has been used primarily as a bench forward by coach Ivan Cleary with James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota as the starting props.

“Once salary cap pressures became more obvious, he realised it was going to be hard to stay. The other fact is he wants to play more minutes. He averages under 20 minutes per game and has reached a point in his career where he is ready to compete for a starting prop position,” Leniu’s manager Joe Nakat told the SMH.

Panthers CEO Matt Cameron conceded the club was unable to make Leniu an offer substantial enough to ward off rivals.

“Although it’s disappointing to see a Panthers junior sign with another NRL club, we understand Spencer is a premiership winner and international player, who has received external interest,” Cameron said.

With the Roosters signing Knights winger Dominic Young last week on a four-year deal starting next season, club stalwart Daniel Tupou’s future is under a cloud while they are also waiting to find out from teen prodigy Joseph Suaali’i whether he will activate a clause in his contract for 2024.

Of the 27 players who ran out for the club in the first year of their dominance in 2020, a maximum of eight will begin next season at the Panthers.

The Panthers have a dominant junior system and last year won reserve grade and under-21s.

But they face a tough task replacing the likes of Apisai Koroisau and Viliame Kikau in NRL this 

Mikaele angry at himself over ‘dumb’ Mudgee incident

Mikaele Ravalawa has admitted he is angry at himself over his early-morning blow up with teammate Zane Musgrove, and the St George Illawarra pair insist they have moved on from the drama.

Dragons players fronted the media on Monday for the first time since the pair’s public spat, with captain Ben Hunt defending the club’s culture after a nightmare off-season.

In a brutal three months for the Saints, five-eighth Tyrell Amone has been stood down after an alleged assault charge while prop Francis Molo has pleaded guilty to intimidation on a domestic matter.

Coach Anthony Griffin is under pressure to keep his job heading into the start of the season, while multiple departing players were critical of their relationship with him at the end of last year.

The club have since fined Ravalawa and Musgrove over their loud 6am argument at their Mudgee team hotel after last week’s Charity Shield defeat to South Sydney, which the players say was football-related.

Mikaele Ravalawa tries to score during the Charity Shield in Mudgee. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

“It was just a bit dumb,” Ravalawa told AAP. “I was angry at myself after it. I let the club down and I just want to get back on the field and play well this year.

“We cleared it up straight away and jumped on the bus. We are good mates.”

Both Ravalawa and Musgrove admitted they were surprised the drama had become public, with the latter adamant the argument was no different in nature to any at training.

“No punches were thrown, there was no scuffle,” Musgrove said. “The club said we could have a few beers after the game, and myself, I probably should have went to bed a bit earlier.

“But it was literally nothing. It was a heated argument. I am very apologetic, but I want to move on. It was just footy talk. You should see our team meetings, we talk in them and if you’re not happy you express how you feel about something. It’s just what you do.”

Musgrove did, however, understand why fans would be frustrated with him after the Dragons’ poor summer off the field.

So too can Hunt. “I can definitely understand why they are getting a bit restless and a bit annoyed with what is going on,” Hunt said. “On the whole I don’t think there is a culture problem, everyone is working hard every day to be better and everyone wants to win.

“It’s frustrating for 99 per cent of players when things like this pop up. All you want to do is train hard and win games of footy. Then you’re faced with this stuff all the time.”

Hunt admitted the drama going public was not an ideal distraction ahead of the Dragons’ round-two match against Gold Coast, after an opening-weekend bye.

But the halfback dismissed claims from former captain James Graham that there was rat in the club’s ranks.

“I don’t think there is anyone who has intentionally gone out and ratted the club out,” he said. “It’s just something that happens.”

Hynes opens up on ‘toughest time’

His mother in custody on drugs charges, Nicho Hynes says he’s enduring the “toughest time of my life” as the 2022 Dally M Medallist fights to play in Cronulla’s NRL season opener.

Hynes is racing the clock to be fit to face South Sydney at PointsBet Stadium on Saturday night after straining a calf muscle in training last week, and looms as a 50-50 prospect.

But the superstar halfback’s physical pain pales into comparison with the mental toll of his mother being in prison, with Hynes on Monday indicating she’d been unjustly dealt with.

Julie Hynes, 50, is awaiting her fate after being found guilty this month in a Central Coast Court of one count of knowingly supplying heroin.  

“Everyone’s going to have opinions on this story and they’re going to react the way they want to react but I’m going to stand by mum every step of the way in this and be there for her,” Hynes told reporters at Shark Park.

“I’ll visit her and what happened I don’t think was the right outcome. You can’t really judge on that but there’s no way in the world that I’m going to leave her high and dry now. She needs the support and I need my support.

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

“Come sentencing day, I’ll probably say a little bit more and hopefully we’ll get a better outcome then.

“But, at the end of the day, it is what it is and I’ve got a job to do here for the Sharks and I’ve a job to do as a role model to inspire the next generation of people and that’s what I’m here to do.”

Fronting a large media scrum, Hynes said “it’s no secret it’s been a challenging time. It’s probably been the toughest time in my life”.

“Especially with just the way it’s been spoken about it in the media and seeing my mum getting dragged through the media and the way people react to it,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard. I’m dealing with it the best I can and putting things in place so I can deal with it.

“I spoke to her and she’s alright and she’s doing the best she can too.”

The popular playmaker said he’d received immense support from not only Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon and teammates, but also the general public.

Nicho Hynes Dally M Winner 2022 (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Fitzgibbon wanted to pull Hynes out of this month’s All Stars clash with Moari All Stars in Rotorua but the 26-year-old instead collected the Preston Campbell Medal as man of the match in his side’s 28-24 win.

“I wanted to go to the All Stars and go and play to the best of my ability. The whole reason of the All Stars is to inspire the next generation of Indigenous kids, Maori kids and even Australian kids,” Hynes said.

“They see the way we play and how we react to certain things and there’s a lot of young Indigenous kids probably walking the same line that I’m walking through.

“They might have parents in prison, they might not have parents at all and might struggle. So hopefully I could inspire at least one kid by going and playing my best and winning that game of footy.

“I was just lucky enough to get that medal and that was for all the little kids out there who are struggling like I have and I am now.”

Gould hails Reynolds’ effect on Oloapu at Dogs

Phil Gould says the influence of fan favourite Josh Reynolds this pre-season has “done wonders” for Canterbury internally and externally, with one rising star in particular set to get the benefit of his tuition and guidance.

The 33-year-old Reynolds has returned to the club he played 138 NRL games for from 2011-2017 and Gould, the club’s general manager of football, said his impact had been both positive and profound.

Gould said highly rated new 18-year-old five-eighth Karl Oloapu, signed on a four-year deal, would benefit from Reynolds’ wisdom.

Playmaker Reynolds bleeds blue and white and it was no surprise he posted on social media recently a photo of himself alongside his hero Terry Lamb, one of the greatest players to lace a boot for the club.

Reynolds embraces club history and Bulldogs supporters embrace him. Gould said his return had been “wonderful for the fan base”, and much more.

“Josh Reynolds’ leadership through the off-season has been tremendous. It is a role model to the younger players,” Gould told AAP at the Nine Network’s Wide World of Sports NRL launch.

“That’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to train with them and show them how a Bulldog trains and he’s done that, to the point where he impressed the coach (Cameron Ciraldo) enough to be included in the top 30.

“I don’t know how many games he will play this year, or whether he will play any, but the coach just wanted him around the group as much as possible.

“Josh has done wonders for the local community and wonders for the fan base. Internally he has done wonders for our playing group.”

Oloapu is one of those players. “We bought a young player from the Broncos in Karl Oloapu and Josh will be doing a lot of work with him privately and help nurture the early part of his career,” Gould said.

Embracing the great Bulldogs history is important to Gould, who played for the club and coached Canterbury to the 1988 premiership.

He pointed to a growing group of former players including Andrew Ryan, Willie Mason, Mark O’Meley, Roy Asotasi, Steve Turner and assistant coach Mick Potter who all have roles at Belmore.

“A number of our players and staff now are ex-Bulldogs which is a nice touch,” Gould said.

“The fans love the fact that we’ve brought former great players to the club.”