Penrith Panthers meet with David Fifita to discuss Gold Coast Titans second-rower replacing James Fisher-Harris

The Penrith Panthers have moved a step closer to signing David Fifita after offering the Titans back-rower a multi-year deal worth $850,000 a season.

Fifita flew into Sydney for a secret meeting with Penrith coach Ivan Cleary on Sunday evening, which the Panthers followed up with a formal offer.

Fifita is expected to decide whether to accept the offer in the next 48 hours. Cleary fronted his weekly press conference in Penrith on Monday afternoon but refused to talk about the club’s pursuit of Fifita.

“Respectfully, I’m not going to comment on recruitment today,” Cleary said. “It’s a very sensitive issue, all recruitment, and it affects a lot of people, clubs, players, agents, families, and I think we’ve already filled our quota for recruitment stories this year.”

The Panthers have placed an emphasis on retaining homegrown talent under Cleary and have not been in a position to sign a marquee player from a rival club for several years.

The last time the club spent big dollars on a player from a rival club was when signing James Tamou (2017) and James Maloney (2018), both of whom were brought to the club under former general manager Phil Gould.

“It’s different, it’s been four years I reckon but we’re always looking for other players too,” Cleary said.

“We’re always looking to evolve, that’s the challenge when you’re losing players and if you’re just staying the same the game will go past you. We’re always looking to evolve but if you do that there’s always a danger you can lose what you’re good at too, so that’s been a balance.