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As part of a series profiling the expected Round 1 sides for all 17 NRL clubs in 2023, the Panthers still look like the team to beat.
A champion team can only withstand the loss of multiple star players if their production pathway is first class.
Penrith are blessed with a huge junior nursery and for the second year in a row, they will head into Round 1 with premiership winning players at other clubs but still being able to field a superb line-up.
They are premiership favourites with the bookmakers to become the first team since Parramatta in 1981-83 to win three straight titles.
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And with 14 of the 17 who lined up on Grand Final night back on deck, coach Ivan Cleary has the luxury of being able to pick and choose when he elevates members of last year’s NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg champion sides into the top grade.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Second-rower Luke Garner has come across from the Wests Tigers to be a left-edge option while Tyrone Peachey has followed him to return to the club where he represented NSW. Peachey has been patchy the past couple of years but his versatility could help Penrith’s depth in an interchange role.
Jack Cogger returns to the NRL after a Super League stint at Huddersfield to provide a back-up halves option to Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai while Broncos forward Zac Hosking adds further depth to the pack.
Viliame Kikau will be extremely hard to replace on the left edge now that he’s joined Canterbury while Api Koroisau’s creativity out of dummy-half leaves another gaping hole.
Charlie Staines was released to join the Tigers as part of the deal to land Peachey while the Dolphins have pillaged Penrith’s fringe first-graders in signing emerging halfback Isaiya Katoa, outside back Robert Jennings and experienced playmaker Sean O’Sullivan. Second-rower J’maine Hopgood’s switch to the Eels is another body blow to Penrith’s strength in reserves.
With Taylan May finally serving his suspension for an off-field incident which was controversially delayed so as not to punish the fans in the finals series, Sunia Turuva will likely edge out Tom Jenkins for the vacant wing berth.
Scott Sorensen and Mitch Kenny are readymade replacements for Kikau and Koroisau but lack the same game-breaking oomph.
1 Dylan Edwards
2 Sunia Turuva
3 Stephen Crichton
4 Izack Tago
5 Brian To’o
6 Jarome Luai
7 Nathan Cleary
8 Moses Leota
9 Mitch Kenny
10 James Fisher-Harris
11 Scott Sorensen
12 Liam Martin
13 Isaah Yeo
Interchange
14 Soni Luke
15 Spencer Leniu
16 Jaeman Salmon
17 Luke Garner
Other squad members: Taylan May (suspended), Chris Smith, Eddie Blacker, Jack Cogger, Lindsay Smith, Matt Eisenhuth, Tom Jenkins, Tyrone Peachey, Zac Hosking.
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