Greg Alexander, Panthers legend and deputy chairman, has made comments that have left the door open to a reunion with former Premiership winning centre and star for the club Matt Burton.
Burton, who enjoyed a breakout year in 2021, played centre for the Panthers during much of his tenure.
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Having played five-eighth during his junior career though, many believed Burton looked at centre as a temporary position - he was always going to make the move back into the halves. The chance for him to dawn the six in Panthers colours slowly dwindled over the years though, as five-eighth Jarome Luia proved to be the perfect counterpart to halfback Nathan Cleary.
That’s when the Canterbury Bulldogs came a-knocking, presenting him with a lucrative deal, one the Panthers could not match, and the keys to the castle – the number six jersey.
Burton is now locked into the Bulldogs on a three-year deal with a player option in 2024.
Alexander has left the door open though, saying on SEN Radio that the Panthers would ‘have him back in a heartbeat’.
“Yeah, of course it would be, he’s a great player to play centre.
“He’d never played centre before, never had he played centre before, he had to learn had to run into space and learn how to perform what he was normally doing one play inside.
“He became the best hole-hitting centre in the game, he would change directions while the ball was coming to him to put himself into space.
“I don’t think anyone realised exactly how fast Matt Burton was last year until he scored a couple of 70 metre tries.”
It’s not common that a player has a breakout year, solidifies himself as a superstar, is beloved by the team and his coaches, and shares nothing but fond words in return but doesn’t sign with the club long term. But it's also not common that you have two superstar level talents both deserving of the six jersey, and big money.
With Luai re-signing in 2021 to a long-term deal until the end of 2024, this all but shut the door on a potential shift at the five-eighth position.
Luai has also begun to look ahead at what life will look like without Burton on his outside in 2022, praising the progression of young centre Izack Tago.
“We’ve got young Tago coming through," Luai said.
"He’s had a really good pre-season, he had a couple of games last year. He is young and a really strong body as well.
"I’m happy to have him outside of me and keep building on our combination this year."
