Penrith renaissance man David Simmons has credited coach Ivan Cleary with giving him the confidence to become one of the most dangerous wingers in the NRL.
The 29-year-old former Cronulla wide man enjoyed the best season of a largely undistinguished 11-year career in 2013, crossing for 19 tries to finish joint top scorer in the NRL.
In recognition of his efforts, Penrith general manager Phil Gould rewarded Simmons with a new two-year contract midway through last season, and he said that faith had helped him fulfil his potential.
Simmons has been more renowned for his religious beliefs than his try scoring. He’s studying for a bachelor of theology for the career path he’ll pursue when he hangs up his boots.
But for now he’s focused on carrying on from where he left off in 2013.
“It was definitely a case of getting things right between the ears for me,” Simmons said.
“Confidence comes and goes for all players, but earlier in my career I’d had injuries, been in and out of the team at Cronulla and perhaps I didn’t believe in myself.
“Ivan has helped me a lot with that side of things here at Penrith. It’s a good club with some very good players and people and I’ve enjoyed every single minute of my time here.”
The Panthers visit Parramatta on Saturday and Simmons, who scored four tries in two meetings with the Eels in 2013, revealed he’s keeping his fingers crossed his left kneecap will manage to stay in place.
In the round-one win over Newcastle, Simmons’ teammates looked on in horror when his left kneecap popped out of place, before he put it back and carried on playing.
Although he played 80 minutes, the Panthers medical team initially thought he would require surgery. But after discovering it wouldn’t get any worse, Simmons opted to put it off until the end of the season.
“I didn’t have to look to see how bad it was. Kevvy Kingston came over and he was trying to stop me from touching it, but it just slid back in pretty easily,” he said.
“It’s still sore now. There’s some stuff in there that’s not going to get better, but it’s not really going to get worse either unless I do it again.
“It’s something I’ll have until I get surgery. But if I can play with it and don’t hurt it again, I’ll be able to leave that until I’m retired and I’ll get it fixed up.”
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