Don’t sign with anyone else: Inside Burton’s defection from Panthers to Bulldogs
In the weeks leading up to Matt Burton signing with the Bulldogs, Penrith pleaded with the five-eighth to give them more time.
Not to increase their offer, but to prove to him that he had a future in a team that included both Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai.
“The thing we said was ‘if you don’t want to sign with us, just don’t sign with anyone else yet’,” Panthers rugby league chief executive Matt Cameron recalled before Canterbury’s clash with Penrith this Sunday night.
“We said, ‘let us show you over summer what we think we can do with you, because we think you can be one of the best centres in the game’.”
And that’s exactly what he became, finishing the season as one of the Dally M centres of the year despite having never played the position before round four.
But at the time of his contract negotiation at the end of 2020, Burton was fixated on playing in the halves. The Sharks were interested, but it was the Bulldogs and their $500,000-a-season offer playing under his mentor Trent Barrett that held most appeal.
It didn’t take many rounds for Canterbury officials to realise they had hit the jackpot.
Matt Burton says farewell to Panthers fans and (inset) Burton with Bulldogs fans after his first game for the club.Credit:Getty
“At the time it was still a lot of money for a player that hadn’t played much first grade,” former Bulldogs CEO Andrew Hill says.
“But some you get right, some you don’t. This one we were all confident that he was a great player, a great young man, committed and conducted himself well.
“We were confident that he would turn out to be the player we thought he would and last year he showed that. I think everyone at the club now would be very happy that we signed him when we did.”
The Bulldogs had already wined and dined his mother Lisa at club legend Peter Mortimer’s winery in Orange a few months earlier in an attempt to lure the Penrith playmaker to Belmore.
Major sponsor Arthur Laundy also travelled with his son Craig to Dubbo to meet with Burton’s mother at the family home.
“I rang Lisa and invited her to lunch at the hotel we own in Dubbo,” Laundy recently told the Herald.
“She didn’t want to go to lunch, so my son Craig and I went around hers for a couple of glasses of water and a bit of a chat. I said to her, ‘I know he’s very secure and happy at Penrith, but if he does come over I’ll make sure that he’s looked after’. She’s got a mind of her own. I wasn’t there to convince her. I was there to purely tell her that if he was to come across to Canterbury, I would make sure he’s looked after.
“I said I’m purely there as a mentor. I’ve been a businessman a long, long time and I know quite a few of the ropes to pull. I just said to them I will make sure these guys are looked after. My aim – and I tell all these kids when I speak to them, ‘Bricks and mortar boys, bricks and mortar’. Don’t come to me with a nice flash new car. Bricks and mortar.”
Cronulla’s offer was similar to the Bulldogs – a three-year, $1.5m deal with an option in his favour in the final year. Penrith’s offer was about $150,000 a season less.
In the end it was the desire to wear the No.6 jersey, and the appeal of working under Barrett, which secured Burton’s signature for the Bulldogs.
No one at Penrith says a bad word about the boy from Dubbo, who lost just 11 games during his four years at the Panthers from SG Ball through to the NRL.
Even when his manager David Riolo twice asked for a release early in the 2021 season, Burton didn’t agitate to guarantee his path to the exit doors.
“From the day that Dave Riolo rang me to tell me that he wasn’t accepting our offer, I made it abundantly clear to Dave that we weren’t going to release him, unless of course it was advantageous to the Panthers,” Cameron said.
“We told him that we’re not going to treat Matt any differently, but at the same token we don’t expect to be treated any differently. If Matt was upset, he never once showed it. That’s a sign of the person he is. He’s a champion of a kid. He never kicked stones.”
The Panthers, who were criticised by the Bulldogs for stunting Burton’s career by not releasing him when it seemed like he would spend most of the season playing NSW Cup behind Cleary and Luai, inquired about a swap deal for Dylan Napa.
The Bulldogs said no. Ten weeks later, with Burton entrenched in first grade, Canterbury officials went back to the Panthers looking to reignite the Napa discussions. They were laughed off the phone.
In a market short on halves – with teams such as Brisbane, North Queensland and the Warriors desperate for playmakers – Burton could have attracted offers in excess of $700,000 if he waited.
While he has struggled to leave a huge imprint on a struggling Canterbury side to open the season, his talent is undeniable.
“I know we’ve signed him for a couple of years but I know the next contract he won’t be interested in the one he’s got now,” a frank Laundy said.
“He won’t be taking up that option. We’d have to upgrade him. He’s a gem isn’t he. All the players and everyone just say he’s a lovely, lovely guy.”
The same goes at Penrith. Perhaps it’ll become evident just how highly Burton is regarded at the Panthers when he becomes a free agent again on November 1 later this year.
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