Former Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks winger Beau Ryan has revealed he and Chris Heighington almost joined the Penrith Panthers ahead of the 2012 NRL season.
The duo were apart of a group of five players who were told they were free to leave the Tigers at the end of 2011, with the signing of Adam Blair pushing them over the salary cap at the time.
That group also included forward Bryce Gibbs, fullback Wade McKinnon and current North Queensland Cowboys head coach Todd Payten.
"We got pulled in to a room that day. It was 2011," Ryan said on Triple M Radio.
"I'm at training. I won't say who, but someone at the Wests Tigers says come upstairs so it was myself, Chris Heighington, Bryce Gibbs, Todd Payten and Wade McKinnon. They had all spoken individually to someone and I was one of the last ones in the room.
"They said, we are over the cap for 2012. We had signed Adam Blair. You guys are off-contract and we are happy for you guys to go if you can find a club. We'd like you to stay, but we are over the cap and you can go.
"Straight away as a player, you go, that's really hard."
Payten would retire as a player at the end of 2011, having clocked 260 games during his career with the Raiders and Roosters, before playing the final 151 at the Tigers.
Gibbs made the move to the Cronulla Sharks for the 2012 season, while McKinnon moved to England for the final year of his career with Hull FC.
Ryan revealed he and Heighington, who shared Wayne Beavis as a player manager, had quickly agreed to terms with the Penrith Panthers after being told they weren't wanted, before the Tigers backflipped, allowing them both to play out 2011 at the Tigers.
"Chris and I had the same manager, so we rang Wayne Beavis and he picked us up and drove us straight to Penrith to meet Gus Gould," Ryan revealed on air.
"We got taken around there, and everyone individually did their deals. After about two weeks, we kept playing during all of this, they said I could stay because other people had left, and that's always in the back of your mind.
"I had signed a deal at Penrith."
The duo would both only play another season for the Tigers before joining the Sharks.
Ryan went on to retire at the end of 2014, while Heighington forged a successful stint in the Shire, being part of the 2016 NRL premiership-winning side, and then finishing his career in 2018 at the Newcastle Knights.
The Tigers have not been back to the play-offs since 2011, where they were eliminated in a semi-final, going through seven head coaches since and picking up the dreaded wooden spoon on three occasions.
