How Panthers helped Salmon overcome COVID blues

Panthers utility Jaeman Salmon has revealed how he was almost lost to the game during the 2020 COVID lockdown before a move to Penrith re-ignited his NRL ambitions.

Salmon, who scored the match equalising try in last weekend's 16-15 defeat of Newcastle, had been touted as a future NRL star when he joined Parramatta from Cronulla as a teenage playmaker in 2018.

However, after 17 NRL appearances with the Eels in the next two seasons, Salmon lost his passion for playing when the game was shut down due to COVID and he played just one match in 2020.

“I was on the fringe at that stage - playing reserve grade and NRL - and then the whole NRL got cancelled,” said Salmon, who will make his 51st NRL appearance against South Sydney on Thursday night.

“I was sort of like, ‘this is bull...t’, or whatever, and I wasn’t really focused on playing footy for a couple of years. I didn’t really play NRL for about two years.”

While the NRL resumed after a 10-week hiatus with strict COVID protocols in place, lower tier competitions were abandoned and Salmon did not play another game for 12 months after falling from favour at Parramatta.

“When I was younger, I was on the scene straight away, but then COVID happened,” Salmon said.

My love for the game sort of faded a bit, not being able to play.

“Signing with Penrith was sort of like a last shot for me, to see if I wanted to keep playing or not. That reignited my love for the game.”

Salmon played 10 NSW Cup games in 2021 before the competition was again shut down due to COVID, but this time he relocated to the Sunshine Coast as part of the Panthers' bubble.

While he played just two games and wasn’t a member of the 2021 grand final team, Salmon formed a close bond with his new team-mates and last season played 25 NRL matches as Penrith stormed to another premiership.

Much was made of on-field exchange with Jarome Luai earlier this season but the strength of their relationship was obvious when the Samoa and NSW five-eighth jumped on Salmon during a post-match interview in Newcastle.

“I’ve got some of my best mates here now. I have grown close to the boys, and I love playing with them," said Salmon

“Me and Jarome had an argument on the field a couple of weeks ago, but that got hyped up to be something it is not.

“Those conversations happen all the time and we just happened to be caught on camera but no-one here was worried about it. Me and Jarome know that it is nothing, and we are way past that.

“There is just a good vibe here, everyone wants to train, everyone enjoys each other’s company and come game day everyone is ready to go.

“There is a good balance here between having fun and switching on to play and train, and I think that is down to Ivan [Cleary] and the coaches. We have a great coaching staff here.”

Like star halfback Nathan Cleary, Salmon has Ukrainian heritage through his great grandparents, who migrated to Canada, where his mother's family still live.

The Ukraine Rugby League have proudly adopted the Panthers duo and Canberra forward Hudson Young, and regularly post about their NRL feats on social media.

“I have seen the posts and that is pretty cool," Salmon said. "My mum grew up speaking Ukrainian around the house because my grandparents spoke Ukrainian, but I don't know too much about it.

"I have just known that I have Ukrainian in me but my grandparents are in Canada so I haven’t really talked to them that much about it."