Of Penrith’s 17 players, 13 featured on the Panthers’ run to this year’s NRL grand final but Brendan Piakura’s one game for Brisbane made him Norths’ only player to taste NRL first grade in 2022.
With Api Koroisau departing Penrith at season’s end, hooker Soni Luke will have a good chance to play more first-grade football next season, especially if he can replicate Sunday’s man-of-the-match performance. He first put in a grubber kick out of dummy half to allow Hopgood to open the scoring, then performed a fine Koroisau impression by scooting out of the play-the-ball and onto the tryline.“It’s been a bit of a journey to get here but it makes it a little bit sweeter.
“I’ve still got a lot of work to do if I want to nail down a spot in that but it’ll be head down, bum up when I get back for pre-season.” The win was Penrith’s second in the State Championship and marked the fifth consecutive occasion the NSW team has claimed the interstate title.