No concerns for Panthers in offering JFH monster contract extension

Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher holds no concerns over the club's intentions of handing James Fisher-Harris a contract extension that would likely make him a one-club man for his career. 

Penrith officials plan to sit down with Fisher-Harris in the coming months to map out a new long-term deal that would result in the powerhouse Kiwi international becoming the first player at the club to extend beyond the 2024 season.

Fisher-Harris, who turned 25 in January, isn't off contract until the end of the 2022 season but will be free to negotiate with rival clubs from November.

The Panthers have been burnt giving long-term deals to players in the past with the likes of Waqa Blake, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Dean Whare released from five-year extensions early in recent years.

However, Fletcher told NRL.com that Fisher-Harris was a rare exception in the game.

"If there was ever a person fit for the purpose [of a long-term deal] it would be him," Fletcher said.

"Our football manager [Matt Cameron] and the coaches will work with James and his manager on a term but it would be lovely to see him finish his career at Penrith."

Fisher-Harris made his NRL debut in 2016 after arriving from New Zealand as a teenager.

The quietly spoken prop has risen to become one of the elite forwards in the game.

After claiming the club's player of the year award during tough circumstances in 2019, Fisher-Harris was again in the mix during last season's run to the grand final.

He was rewarded in February with player of the Harvey Norman All Stars honours and despite missing out on the captaincy, is highly respected at the Panthers.

"I'm just focusing on my footy and everything will flow off that," Fisher-Harris said on Monday.

"I've been here since 2013 so it's been a while. I'm pretty lucky they got me over here and things started straight after school.

"I just do things my own way. Everyone's got different leadership skills. I don't talk as much as [Isaah] Yeo and Clez [Cleary] but I'm more a one-on-one guy. That's my style, more about the actions."