After being a part of the 2020 and 2021 Panthers squad, Mitch Kenny knows what it’s like to experience NRL Grand Final week without participating in the decider.
This year, though, the Penrith junior will get his chance to don the Panthers jersey and play in front of a sold-out crowd at Accor Stadium in an attempt to claim the club’s second consecutive NRL premiership.
But the 24-year-old hooker is no stranger to a Grand Final, having won the NSWRL SG Ball title in 2016 alongside Brian To’o and lost the Jersey Flegg Cup with Spencer Leniu and Stephen Crichton two years later.
A proud pathway product, Kenny says the club is in an “awesome place” at the moment and hopes the first-grade team can cap off a brilliant year for Panthers with another trophy to add to the cabinet.
“I’m really happy for a lot of people who probably wouldn’t get much credit for that. There are so many guys in the background who have been working so hard for the past 10 years to put these pathways in place, he said.
“Now we’re sort of finally seeing the fruits of it this week, it’s obviously pretty special, hopefully we can cap it off well and get our job done too. It's definitely a cool thing to be part of and hopefully that will be the case for the next few years.”
While encouraged to ride the wave that comes with the biggest week of the year, Kenny admits the nerves haven’t hit him yet, but he expects to feel a multitude of emotions come Sunday.
“I’m not too emotional yet, I definitely will be later in the week though. I’m sure the nerves and that will kick in and I’ll let that sort of take over and enjoy that, Kenny said.
“It’s really cool, it’s still a pinch yourself moment, I try to put it on the backburner and just take it day by day but when you stop and think about it, it is pretty cool to think that I’m playing in an NRL Grand Final.”
For someone who used to mow lawns and trim hedges across the Penrith district while balancing his football career, it’s safe to say Kenny has come a long way from 2019, when he made his debut against this week’s opponents, the Parramatta Eels.
“I look back to that time and think about how lucky I was that when I debuted is when the club sort of turned around, rather than me turning the club around,” he joked about the seven-game win-streak that followed his debut.
“But everyone here has a backstory. Not everyone was an NRL player when they were younger. That’s just my path and everyone’s got their own.”
Reflecting on his own progress this year, after not being a member of the starting 17 in 2021 to captaining the team in Round 25 against the North Queensland Cowboys and playing in the NRL decider, Kenny says he’s still working towards his goals.
“I’m still just chipping away and trying to take steps forward, you know I’d like to think my footy for the most part is on the up and that’s off the back of experience and training each week. I’ve just tried to make every session count and it obviously helps playing in this group, they bring the best out in you,” he said.
“I’ve had a lot more good times than I have bad times since I’ve been in and around first grade, but each year there’s been lessons and experiences and highs and lows and that’ll continue because that’s the rollercoaster of rugby league.”
Kenny says the main leaders in the team are treating this week just like any other game to calm the nerves of Charlie Staines, Jaeman Salmon, Izack Tago and himself before they place in their first NRL Grand Final.
“All of us have been on the Sunny Coast, we’ve all be part of the squads the last couple of years, so being around past two Grand Finals probably makes you a little more accustomed to it and the fact that we’ve all played Grand Finals when we played junior footy, that’s probably put us in good stead too.”
But if there’s anything the utility takes out of the final week of the season, it’s probably the need for reflection.
“It is nice to stop and look back on how far you’ve come, and I think that reminds you that you need to keep going with what got you there in the first place, and that’s hard work,” he said. “I’ve got a few more opportunities to work hard this week before we actually get to the game, and I’ll make sure I do that.”
“Our performance will be based off our preparation this week, we’ll get our prep right and we’ll go out there and we’ll do our best and try and play our brand of footy and the result will take care of itself.”
