“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.

“We got that a little bit wrong last year. It’s not a challenge,it’s actually fun as a group to work out how that looks and I’m looking forward to doing that as we go.”

The Titans,who are still waiting for Fifita to inform them whether he intends to take up an option for the next two seasons,were unaware their forward had met the Panthers on his day off.

Fifita has until kick-off in the opening game of round 10 (this Thursday,8pm) to take up the option in his Titans deal. Failure to do so will result in him becoming a free agent.

Fifita has told those close to him he wants to win a premiership and is considering a move from the Titans,who are 16th after nine rounds.

After agreeing torelease New Zealand prop James Fisher-Harris to the Warriors on compassionate grounds from next season,the Panthers have identified Fifita as a potential replacement.

The departure of Fisher-Harris will free up close to $1 million in Penrith’s salary cap for next year and the club has expressed interest in using some of that money on Fifita.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job properly unless I investigated every option that was available to the club moving forward,” Panthers football chief executive Matt Cameron said on Sunday night.

“If David’s services are available for the 2025 season,it would be remiss of us not to look at him.”

Should negotiations prove fruitful,the Panthers will consider restructuring their forward pack to accommodate Fifita.

As well as Fisher-Harris,the Panthers will also lose Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva to the Wests Tigers next season. They have managed to retain hooker Mitch Kenny and centre Taylan May in recent months.

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