Two Panthers games in particular last year – in fact two plays - showcased just how potent and confident the Panthers’ attack has become.

At home on a Monday night in Round 22 against the Sydney Roosters, the Panthers produced one of the most scintillating tries their faithful have ever seen. Breaking out of a tackle on the halfway line on the last, a spinning Bryce Cartwright flicked the ball to winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who found young half Nathan Cleary in support. Cleary broke free of the Roosters’ scrambling defence before kicking wide left to Tyrone Peachey, who caught Cleary’s pin-point-accurate kick on his chest and charged over in the left corner.

There was nothing tactical about any of it. It was pure vision and football smarts by Cleary and Peachey. However, Wallace says coach Anthony Griffin has most to do with this daring new way of Penrith’s attack, which will continue to be the norm in 2017.

“Hook had a big influence on the way we played last year,” Wallace tells Inside Sport. “He wanted for us to try and have our own style; everyone attacks very similarly these days. Once we sort’ve got used to it, it all clicked into gear. It really suits our team. Those couple of games in particular, we just really clicked. And hopefully we can just really build on that this year.”

The other match in which the Panthers really “clicked” in 2016 was their second-last game for the season - that famous, spirited win over Canterbury in the first week of the playoffs.

Ahead 10-6 against the ‘Dogs with 25 minutes left on the clock, fullback and captain Matt Moylan, in the centre of the field, drifted towards the left touchline and performed a simple, old-fashioned but lightning-fast run-around play with winger Josh Mansour. Back with the ball, Moylan then found a bolting Isaah Yeo, who made it to the Bulldogs’ 20, before finding Peachey mid-tackle. Peachey broke two tackles of his own and then passed right to Wallace, who stormed over under the posts. The try was a brilliant and potent mix of team vision, speed and momentum; the type of semi-final stuff the Panthers had been producing all year.

Wallace, a former half, had by then settled into his new hooking role, with the Panthers sure to benefit greatly from the fact he’ll be starting the 2017 season at number nine. This year there’ll be no mid-season positional transition for him to worry about.

“It probably took me four or five weeks to really get going at hooker last year, but once I got used to it I really enjoyed it,” the 31-year-old Wallace says. “Having had nearly a full season of it last year, I’m obviously looking to improve this year.”