IN THE BEGINNING

“I started playing rugby league over in New Zealand, for the Mount Albert Lions in Auckland. Dad had been the head coach of the New Zealand Warriors. When we came over to Australia, I started playing for Penrith Brothers, I think in the under-15s. I had a few mates from school up at St Dom’s [St Dominic’s College, Penrith]. They were playing for Brothers, so I played there till the under-17s before going into the Penrith system.”

PANTHERS CAME KNOCKING

“The Panthers picked me up when I was playing for Brothers in my first year out here. I got an invitation to trial during that under-15s year - with the Penrith Harold Matthews squad. I played alright and ended up getting picked in the team. I was playing hooker off the bench for the first couple of games and ended up working my way into halfback. So I played the rest of that competition, went back to Brothers, then played SG Ball the year after, then SG Ball again the year after that, and then ‘20s from there.”

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INSPIRING FIGURES

“I kind’ve looked up to my Dad [current Wests Tigers coach Ivan] when I was younger. And there were also the great halfbacks of the game; Andrew Johns, Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer. I loved watching them play. Then there was Craig Gower out here when they won the comp. That was pretty crazy as well. I’ve seen highlights of that time; coming out to Penrith, just looking back on the past.

“I was never really a Penrith supporter until Dad starting coaching out here. Once I got out here, Peter Wallace was playing halfback at the time. Just being around him; he was like no one else. He was just really tough and had such great respect from all the team. As much as Wal was a great player - he probably wasn’t as skilful as some of the others of his era - it was just his toughness and respect. I just wanted to be exactly like he was. He was a pleasure to play under and play with.”