MYSTERY surrounded the future of Penrith coach Matthew Elliott last night after the club denied it was the origin of speculation he had been sacked.
Rumours that the club had chosen to show Elliott the door as he approaches the end of the second year of his three-year contract were aired on the Channel Nine coverage of both the Sydney Roosters-St George Illawarra and Brisbane-Newcastle games last night. Contacted for confirmation or denial of the story, Panthers chief executive Mick Leary did not return the Herald 's calls but instead instructed the club's media manager, Andrew Farrell, to pass on a message on his behalf.
"I've got no idea where the rumour and innuendo has come from," Leary was quoted as saying.
But when pressed on whether Elliott would see out the final year of his contract, Leary said: "Put it this way, I'd rather not discuss things further."
Speculation over Elliott's early departure has intensified since Penrith were knocked out of the running for a spot in the finals with last Sunday's 42-20 loss to the Warriors in Auckland. The Panthers will play their final match of the season against Manly at CUA Stadium tonight.
The day after the loss to the Warriors, Leary told the Herald he was no longer going to answer questions from the media about the coach's future, saying there had been enough talk and that any more of it would be unsettling for the club.
Leary has been in the process of cutting the club's expenditure in a bid to ease financial pressure and the Panthers hardly appear to be in a position to consider paying out the final year of Elliott's lucrative deal. But that has not stopped the speculation, with New Zealand coach and Craig Bellamy's assistant at Melbourne, Stephen Kearney, mentioned as a potential target.
Last night, apart from Leary issuing a short quote through an intermediary, Penrith chairman Barry Walsh, Panthers group boss Glenn Matthews, board member and former star player Greg Alexander and recruitment manager Jim Jones could not be contacted. None of them returned calls. Elliott's phone rang out.
Meanwhile, Parramatta's senior players and coaching staff will meet next week in an attempt to establish why the Eels went from premiership contenders last year to also-rans this season.
Tonight's game against the Warriors at Parramatta Stadium will bring down the curtain on the season for the Eels after their campaign to make the finals - which looked rocky from the start - finally breathed its last gasp with last Saturday's thrashing at the hands of St George Illawarra.
Eels captain Nathan Cayless told the Herald the club had to work out the reasons for the huge disparity between the team's best and worst form this season.
"There are a lot of things we need to talk about," Cayless said yesterday. "It's hard to put your finger on exactly what went wrong, but we weren't nearly consistent enough. Some days we played well, but on other occasions we were really poor. You can handle getting beaten if you compete, but when you lose and you haven't really competed, it's hard to take.
"Last week, against the Dragons, after our first set of six we just weren't in the game. We've got a lot of work to do in the off-season, and we'll talk about what went wrong when the senior players and coaching staff meet next week. You have these sort of meetings every year, but sometimes there are more good things to talk about. We obviously need to improve for next season."
Before the season began, Parramatta were considered among the biggest threats to Melbourne's chances of winning back-to-back premierships, having given the Storm their toughest match of last year's finals series before losing 26-10. But the Eels have won only 11 games this season, losing 12, and are in 10th place.