[Confirmed] Russell Packer -->Not the Broncos

[austin71]

Triple M again saying packer linked to the Broncos. I think triple m rumours are rubbish 90% of the time.

 

[Foordy]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Triple M again saying packer linked to the Broncos. I think triple m rumours are rubbish 90% of the time.

it's the other 10% of the time that worry me

 

[Mitch06]

[Rumour] Russell Packer --> Broncos

According to Triple M NRL we are interested in Russel Packer, as well as Penrith.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

This Packer talk is really starting to get traction.

So he chucks a piss on the Suncorp turf, now he may be wearing our jersey next year. What the ****.

 

[Broncoman]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

This Packer talk is really starting to get traction.

So he chucks a **** on the Suncorp turf, now he may be wearing our jersey next year. What the ****.

I believe his jail sentence is 2 years so he has another year to go after this year. We don't need him anyway I would easily take Parker, McGuire and Kennedy (in current form) over him any day.

 

[jarro65]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

He'd only be coming if Bennett thought he'd have something to offer... And Bennett could work with him.

He'd provide more of that mongrel we're looking for.

 

[Kaz]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

I believe his jail sentence is 2 years so he has another year to go after this year.

He won an appeal & could be out in December, BUT could be deported when released.

Russell Packer wins appeal but 'could be deported' upon release from prison

 

[Huge]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Bloke like Packer would be looking for redemption. If he's done his time, genuinely apologised, decided to change his attitude, his life ,his goals and has tried to make amends for his actions then he may be worth a chance. If.

Unlike kid fiddlers, rapists,politicians and murderers everyone deserves a second chance.

 

[Porthoz]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

He deserves a second chance to go **** himself. He didn't kill the guy he stomped on the head by chance.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

How can the club justify not signing Dugan but signing a violent criminal like Packer?

 

[Allo]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Error Page

I pray the board use some common-sense. Especially Locky, who copped an elbow from this grub in his injured cheekbone in the Four Nations (or whatever it was)

Incoming Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett targets incarcerated prop Russell Packer

• PETER BADEL
• THE COURIER-MAIL
• AUGUST 31, 2014 12:00AM

HE famously urinated on Suncorp Stadium, and is currently serving time in Lithgow Jail for a vicious assault.

But Russell Packer has emerged as the Broncos’ No.1 recruitment target with incoming master coach Wayne Bennett in talks to bring the incarcerated prop to Red Hill.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Bennett is keen to sign Packer, believing the 24-year-old can bring a hard-edge to a Broncos pack craving a front-row intimidator.

Bennett is aware the move will attract criticism given Packer’s chequered past and will seek approval from the Brisbane board, who will decide whether to submit a formal offer.

But if the planets align, Bennett will take one of the biggest recruitment gambles of his career by bringing to Brisbane arguably the code’s most-feared front-rower.

Russell Packer appears to relieve himself on the field at Suncorp Stadium.


The 112kg prop is so talented he made his NRL debut for the Warriors at age 18 and represented New Zealand at 21.But his world fell apart this year, just months after he first earned notoriety for urinating on the field in a clash against the Broncos in June 2013 at Suncorp Stadium.The Warriors were fined $15,000 for Packer’s midfield pit-stop, but deeper trouble followed when he quit the club to join Bennett at the Knights this season.

In January, Packer pleaded guilty to a drunken assault after punching a man before stomping on his head in an act
Magistrate Greg Grogan labelled “cowardly and deplorable”.
The Knights tore up his contract. He was given a two-year jail term, which was softened in April this year when Packer received a non-parole term, meaning is eligible for release on January 5, 2015.That scenario would give Packer two months to take part in the Broncos’ pre-season and acquire the necessary fitness for the 2015 NRL premiership kick-off in March.

Russell Packer in action for the Warriors.


Bennett must clear several hurdles to secure Packer. A rubber-stamp from the Broncos board aside, there are at least three Sydney clubs chasing the raw-boned bookend the Dragons, Parramatta and Penrith.There is a risk Packer could be deported to New Zealand upon release from Lithgow Prison.But there is a precedent of former jailbirds receiving NRL and government backing to play top-level rugby league.Current Eels back-rower Manu Ma’u was jailed for two years in 2007 for an assault in New Zealand, but was cleared by authorities to move abroad to play NRL.Bennett declined to comment when contacted by The Sunday Mail, but the interest is genuine and Packer regards the super coach as a valued life mentor.The Broncos are also battling salary-cap pressures.But if Brisbane hierarchy can be convinced of Packer’s prospects for rehabilitation, the club could afford an incentive-based deal worth around $100,000 a season.

Russell Packer during the pre-season.


Packer played 110 NRL games in six seasons for the Warriors and would give the Broncos pack an element of fear alongside Josh McGuire in the engine room.Should the Broncos secure Packer, it would almost certainly spell the end for veteran prop Ben Hannant, who remains unsigned on the eve of the finals.“I don’t know what’s going on yet,” Hannant said. “Hopefully this week, I will know more. Brisbane has some dramas with the salary cap, I’m being patient but that’s footy.

“I’ve spoken to Wayne and I’ll talk to him again after the weekend. Wayne wants me here and he wants me to play on but it depends on how much room there is in the salary cap.“I’m hoping to be here but how I fit into the jigsaw I don’t know.
“I’m not taking anything for granted. But I’m definitely not retiring, I’m 29, I have no major injuries, I feel great so I have at least another five years left in me. I just want to get more minutes and if I get that, I can be an asset wherever I will be.”

 

[Huge]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Mmmm.......it's certainly a hard thing to show any compassion towards someone who didn't show much during the pub brawl. I wasn't there and don't know what transpired prior to the incident. Needless to say that when someone is down they should never be kicked unless you really want them to stay down and they hurt your wife,kids,family or partner. Of course it's not a justification for Packers actions just a comment on the realities of life.

I do know that a persons upbringing must be considered when thinking about the adult, you only have to see how a poisonous upbringing affected various child-soldiers and even if you cannot forgive a persons actions ,the life they led as a child still must be considered. I don't know what Packers life was like so I won't be too hasty to judge. What I can say is redemption and public acceptance are possible if one changes the way one lives. Mark Geyer is a perfect example, amazingly he was as guilty of thuggery as Packer only he managed to avoid the jail term he so richly deserved for his actions in Gosford one day. He went on to become somewhat of a media personality although I've not seen much of him lately.

WB if the media reports are to be believed must see something in Packer other than what he can bring to the team, perhaps he knows a story that most of us don't . I would think Packers not the type of person WB normally keeps around so there may be more to the story than we know.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Punting a clean living family man for a vicious criminal sends out all type of crazy bad signals to the general public.
One of the things that turned me off the Tits was the day they signed Bird.

 

[Splinter]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

I'm torn on this one, on one hand he is grub but on the other he is the intimidation we need in the pack. He has done his time, will play in the NRL again regardless of whether he comes here and I trust WB judgement on him
Really who on here wouldn't like to see him stomp on Paul Gallen

McGuire, Kennedy, Packer and Dodds supported by our young props is a pretty fair rotation

 

[Splinter]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

Let Petero be Packers mentor

 

[Splinter]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

And before anyone brings up Hannant, I love the bloke and the way he gives us all he has got but at the end of the day there would not be a forward in the competition intimidated by Hannant.
He has to make way for somebody regardless

 

[broncos4life]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

While what he did was disgusting people do make mistakes. If Bennett would only sign him if he believes he has learnt his lesson.

Taking away what he did, packer is exactly the type of prop we need, in fact he probably is the type of prop that is the missing piece to the 2015 and onwards puzzle.

At the end of the day he will be signed by a club and I would rather he solve our puzzle than watch him do it for some other team.

Rugby league forgives and forgets very quickly. His signing at any club will be the kind of thing that the media make a big deal about for a few days (until the next big scandal) and for the first week some fans will talk about ripping up their membership etc etc

But come a few weeks in and he is scary the crap out of the opposition and the media are now talking about him being the buy of the season blah blah blah it will all be forgotten

 

[ningnangnong]

Re: Wayne Bennett related player movement discussion

I can't support a team with this piece of scum in it.

I can only hope all the speculation is just that, and that there's nothing in it.