Penrith try to lure Campese

Penrith are planning to lure Canberra star Terry Campese away from the Raiders, and they are prepared to break the bank to do it.

It is understood that the Panthers are preparing to offload no less than six first grade players to give them room to move under the NRL’s salary cap and offer Campese a deal worth around $350,000 a year.

The players reportedly to be released are Keith Peters, Matthew Bell, Maurice Blair, Junior Moors, Joel Romelo and Andrew Emelio although the Penrith management have yet to comment.

Panthers Chief Executive Mick Leary did however confirm that club are interested in Campese.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “We’ll certainly be looking at Terry. He is a very good player. He has great vision, he runs and he’s a tryscorer. He’s the complete footballer.”

Meanwhile, the Panthers have received a boost with last week’s news that prop Petero Civoniceva will remain at the club for another year after taking up a third-year option on his contract.