James Fisher-Harris to leave Penrith at the season’s end – SEN THE CAPTAIN’S RUN

Cameron Smith and Denan Kemp dissect the ground breaking news of James Fisher-Harris signing with the Warriors

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welcome back to the captain’s run and
you I mean I cannot believe it and I’m
sure our listeners are sitting there
mind blown right now not only has the uh
the uh the Panthers released Fisher
Harris from the last two years of his
deal the Warriors have announced a
4-year deal starting next season of
Fisher Harris joining the club I mean
this is W this is big this is absolutely
huge what are your thoughts smiy well
it’s massive given you know he’s played
his entire career at at penth and you
know it’s um it’s no secret that he’s
been a huge part of their their repeat
there’s no there’s no secret about that
he just come off a season where he won
the Golden Boot um where he was judged
the the best player in the world um and
he’s he was voted he’s been voted prop
of the year what 2020 2021 as as well
but you know it it I think it goes
without saying that he’s regarded by a
lot of people in rugby league circles as
the best prop in the game currently so
this is massive massive news um moving
forward particularly you know you talk
about penth you know we always talk
about you know how how big the uh the
the the pool of young players coming
through a penth are but gez it’s hard to
replace someone like James Fisher Harris
M it’s just incredible mate massive
signing for the Warriors though oh the
Ws are going crazy they might have a day
of celebration in New Zealand is there
um well you know but in saying that like
we don’t want to we don’t want to show
any disrespect to Aden F Blake too
because he’s been one of The Shining
lights I believe for the Warriors um
over the last 12 months it’s a reason
why they went so deep in the competition
as well but um my goodness oh mate oh
abolutely did anyone did anyone see this
coming no this has been kept under RS
and yeah I second your thoughts mate no
disrespect Adam for Blake like he has
been also literally one of the best
Delan front r
uh and also one of the best front RS in
the game but yeah fish haris going to
that club what a huge day uh Warrior CEO
ceron George has said it’s a huge
signing for us undoubtedly one of the
biggest in our club’s history um I will
say this will be probably the biggest
test of the depth of young Talent uh
that the Panthers have faced and why do
I say that it’s not necessarily because
they haven’t been tested before it’s
because in the outside backs usually you
can get an 18 or 19 year old guy that’s
a gun that’s kind of ready for first
grade to to a degree 19 20 21 in the
front row though very rarely do you have
an 18 19 year old and yes there
obviously is pain Hearts there OS for
sure but very rarely do you have an 18
19 year old 20-y old prop ready to go
and be the inspirational leader in the
middle that fisher Harris has been I
mean what a test for the club what is
what does this mean for the
Warriors is there a market on the
2025 Premiership oh mate it’s just him
and Barnett up front it might be the the
most mongr front rowers combination ever
had my God my God what what did you just
call them
mongrels big mongrels they are they are
big mongrels ready to go the drop of a
hat okay so so for the the for the
Warriors actually we’ll talk about the
Panthers I guess as a Panthers fan when
you didn’t see it coming you didn’t have
time to kind of I guess digest and use
this is going to be a tough one to
swallow because you would have expected
Fisher Harris to play his career out at
Panthers I know rugby league is a crazy
world but if there was one player
outside of maybe Nathan clear maybe even
more than Nathan clear you would have
expected Fisher Harris to be there till
the end yeah well he made his Debo there
in
2016 um so he’s played his entire career
there and yeah I think you know for mine
I I didn’t see him moving so um you know
it’d be interesting to see not not that
it’s any of our business but um I could
only imagine that it’s you know for
family reasons maybe that he wants to go
back to New Zealand um you know rather
than being in penth because there’s no
doubt that he loves playing for penth
and um has you know really really
enjoyed representing that footy club and
that Jersey you know he’s he’s a very
proud penrith Panthers player so you can
see that in the way he performs every
week it’s
um yeah it’s just I don’t know I’m still
a little bit in shock be honest mate I
am too I think I think my biggest
concern with penth obviously you know
you’ve lost L you’ve lost Fisher Harris
you you know the list goes on of high
quality players I guess the the biggest
concern I have with with penth is I
haven’t seen anyone fill in and come
close to the level of footy that fisher
Harris has delivered whereas when I look
back to Burton I go well they had T and
may coming through that we saw with had
Tong or crit you know we we kind of had
SE then you even look to the hav
situation we’ve seen them without ly get
some WIS whereas you know with fish
Harris I’ve never really seen a front
row come in and do that anywhere near
the close job that he does yeah they
they seem as though they’ve their stocks
for you know particularly sort of
outside backs or even halves they they
got high quality sort of young guys
waiting in the wings um but not so much
you know those those front rowers mate
like they
it takes a little bit to to develop and
to mature in those positions sure you
can get a young guy that sort of bursts
onto the scene and they’ll have a few
good games but it’s not until they’ve
been around the game for you know maybe
three or four seasons they sort of get
into their you know mid 20s that they
actually they they’re hardened in that
position cuz it’s the tough like let’s
be honest it’s the it’s the hardest
position on the field physically but
they’re running they’re running into
brick walls and then like they’re
putting them in front of all the the
other Giants and it’s it’s a tough game
you don’t you don’t it’s not just about
the physicality because you know you see
so many young athletes coming into our
game they’re big far strong powerful you
need to be
mentally mentally tough so mentally
tough to be able to not not just get out
there and play in the middle um but to
be able to turn up every tackle every
run um return the ball off kickoffs
every training session and be at your
top like James fiser Harris has been for
a long time now like I’m looking across
some of his numbers from his Debo year
like he played 23 games in his deboo
year campy remember like playing in the
front row he he’s pretty much averaged
over 20 matches every season yeah wow so
not only is he high quality but his
durability is remarkable like I’ll just
roll him off quickly so this is games
per season from 2016 23 15 in in 2017
then he went 25 24 23 24 23 23 wow like
it’s just you know like so what you what
you’re buying there is from a Warriors
point of view that’s that’s value for
money that’s value for money so
basically you know we’re getting some
text in there fouryear deal for a 29y
old front rower ain’t a great deal
another text fouryear deal 2.7 million
for a 29 29 front rower ain’t a great
deal forwards for boys forwards
especially front rowers don’t play till
33 this so he’s currently still 28 he’ll
obviously be 29 when the contract
starts look if it’s if it is reported
2.7 million that means they got him for
675 a year I mean I I I struggle to see
how that’s a bad deal he doesn’t look
like he’s
injury-prone doesn’t look like he’s
carrying niggly injuries yeah I I but if
you yeah if you yeah I agree with you I
think if if he was on a million a year
then you’d maybe question it yeah but um
he he doesn’t look like he’s he’s
dipping in form at all yeah so I think
it’s a great time to to get a hold of
him yeah and like look it’ be easy in
two years time if he does lose a step or
two to then turn oh was a bad signing
but it’s like okay let’s let’s let’s say
the last two years he injury prone
whatever but they win a Premiership next
year do you just go uh yeah we’ll cop
those two years for a Premiership like
you’ve got your return yeah return in
your investment you’ve got it absolutely
and and I mean that’s really what
they’ll be talking next year with for I
mean even this year with FAL Blake
they’re talking premierships in my
opinion next year for sure they’d be
talking premierships you’d have to
assume so I assume the Warriors are
looking at it going okay first of all
675k a year I mean that’s a good deal
for one but also if we want to win a
Premiership with this current roster we
need the best of the best now right now
y um well that’s smart right cuz they’re
looking at it going well our our window
is open and you know a lot of people
don’t like to talk talk about Windows
and um you know thinking well do we have
an opportunity to win a Premiership do
we not I think it’s clear that when you
look across the competition there
there’s there’s teams with an
opportunity to win it and there’s teams
that aren’t that’s just a fact of life
Warriors are certainly a team right now
that have an opportunity to win a
Premiership in the next couple of years
now we’re he’s only he’s only going to
help he’s only going to and I mean the
standards he’s going to set for the next
young let’s not forget we’re bringing in
fish hour the standards he’s going to
set like those standards at penrith
don’t get set without Fisher Harris
being a big proponent of setting them
like a coach in an Administration can
set all the standards they want but if
senior players aren’t setting the
standards it does not matter it really
does not matter on top of all that let’s
not forget Warriors have four or five of
the best young forwards in the NRL that
have openly been quoted saying a lot of
guys that have come before us go to oie
they said Aussie not me they go to
Aussie because of the opportunity we
have chosen to stay together and in New
Zealand that is quoted the young
forwards have said that tell me one
forward currently playing that you would
like more to to Mentor some young kiwi
boys coming coming through the ranks of
the Warriors it’s Fisher Harris it’s
he’s number one he’s number one um so to
recap fish Harris has been released from
the last two years of his contract from
the penth Panthers quoted out of respect
to the three-time Premiership player
Panthers saw it only fitting to Grant
his this request he has signed a 4-year
deal starting
2025 uh with the New Zealand Warriors