Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo has revealed the regular injection of new players into the Panthers machine has played a key role in the club's continued NRL dominance.
The Panthers have been forced to overcome significant roster turnover to qualify for a fifth-straight grand final, with more than half the side from the 2020 decider no longer at the club.
Just eight players remain in the team, a figure that will drop even further when Jarome Luai and James Fisher-Harris depart at the end of the season. Sunia Turuva is also leaving after what will be his second grand final.
The changes have led to a constant injection of talent into the squad, with Yeo crediting the new players for preventing any complacency creeping into the side.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man
"Experience helps but if you look back to 2020 [you'll see] how different we are from then to now," Yeo said. "We’ve worked really hard on the mental side but it’s nice to have experience you can lean back on.
"We’ve certainly had that over the last few years, that helps, but then I think of the excitement of the boys who haven’t been in the grand final too. Around the group it helps, so it's nice to have a good balance.
"It's nice to have the guys that haven’t been there before getting to experience it for the first time, it’s a good energy."
Large-scale roster turnover has become a common theme among NRL premiers in recent years, with the salary cap working to equalise talent across the competition.
Match Highlights: Panthers v Storm
But where most clubs have entered a seemingly inevitable decline shortly after winning a title, both the Panthers and grand final opponents Melbourne have managed to remain perennial premiership contenders.
Few teams would have been able to navigate the departure of Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau, Api Koroisau and a host of others as well as the Panthers have.
Yeo credited the overarching structure set up at Penrith for laying the foundation for success, with the club combining a thriving development pathway with the shrewd acquisition of external talent.
"There's not just pride within the playing group but pride within the club, the pathways we've got, whether it’s recruitment or pathways," he said.
"The club’s done a wonderful job to be able to give us an opportunity to have a squad that can compete. Then off the back of that, the players who are still here and have stayed, they’ve really grown as leaders of the club."
Match: Storm v Panthers
Grand Final -
home Team
Storm
1st Position
away Team
Panthers
2nd Position
Venue: Accor Stadium, Sydney
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
Nowhere is this approach more obvious than in the team's two grand final debutants.
Liam Henry is a boy from Blayney in the NSW Central West who has progressed through the club's pathway from Jersey Flegg to the NRL. Paul Alamoti was an unheralded off-season recruit from the Bulldogs who has barely skipped a beat since being handed the daunting task of replacing Crichton.
Fullback Dylan Edwards said new players quickly learn they must maintain the lofty internal standards or risk a tap on the shoulder and praised the duo for working hard to find their place within the Panthers machine.
Two for Alamoti in a prelim
"We've had constant people moving on to different clubs," Edwards told NRL.com. "We've had to continually evolve and bring new boys in and get them up to speed about how we want to play.
"It's special to then see them thrive. It's a credit to them, they've been willing to put in the hours of video, the extra reps and extra drills on the field to get up to speed about how we want to do things.
"They're diligent people and they work really hard so it's an awesome reward for them."
A premiership on Sunday night will prove the ultimate reward and be a sure sign this Panthers juggernaut isn't going anywhere, even with the looming departure of a host of big names.
