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

Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher has slammed rugby league great Gorden Tallis after suggesting that she and other teams that won the premiership had gone over the salary cap to win the league.

Tallis infuriated many Penrith fans by claiming they were part of the salary cap he says is widespread in the NRL, while defending the Storm for celebrating the 2007 and 2009 premierships being stripped for systemic 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 Melbourne fan then you’re stupid, 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 have and you support the Wests Tigers… you say, “I don’t think we can beat them”.

Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher Pictured) said the allegations were ill-advised and defamatory

“If the salary cap is fair, the talent should be fair, right?”

The Panthers, who have won the last two premierships, have vehemently denied Tallis’ claims – with Fletcher labeling the comments as ‘thoughtless’.

“The truth is that they are actually libelous,” he told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

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

“It’s also an insult to our players who won the games fair and square, and they don’t deserve to cast a shadow over their names.

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

“The fact is that we won a game by paying $600,000 for Waqa Blake and Reg (Reagan Campbell-Gillard) at another club (Parramatta). We do player development to get the results we do. In fact, we also develop players for other clubs.

“We could field two teams in the league with the best players we develop and unfortunately we had to make some tough decisions and let players go to keep it under wraps. You can browse all over the NRL and see our former players on numerous teams. We comply with the cap.’

Tallis was unable to provide any evidence for his claims of salary cap cheating

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

Phil Rothfield of the Daily Telegraph asked Tallis to provide evidence for his claims of cheating during the fiery debate, but he was unable to substantiate them.

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

“Listen, Melbourne Storm won, unless you’re a Storm fan I think you’re worthless, but they won those trophies. In my opinion as a footy fan they have a right to put them there,” he said.