Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva both left the Panthers and joined the Wests Tigers in the off-season.
You’ll be hard-pressed finding an NRL club with a better culture than the Penrith Panthers, and the actions of Brian To’o on Friday night summed it up to a tee. The Panthers winger was spotted in the crowd in Campbelltown watching former teammates Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva in their first game for the Wests Tigers against Newcastle.
Luai and Turuva both left the Panthers in the off-season, becoming the latest casualties of the four-time defending premiers’ success. Penrith’s dynasty means they can’t fit all their stars under the salary cap, and have had to let go of the likes of James Fisher-Harris, Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau, Api Koroisau, Matt Burton and Spencer Leniu.
But even when they leave they’re still part of the Panthers family. The Penrith players have such a strong bond and the culture at the club is so good that they remain close friends for life.
To’o was spotted embracing Luai and Turuva while holding his young daughter at Campbelltown on Friday night, with both of the Tigers players kissing To’o’s child. They looked more like family members than friends or former teammates.
Panthers players more like brothers than teammates
There were similar scenes when Crichton was spotted supporting his former teammates during Penrith’s preliminary final win over Cronulla last September. Crichton, Luai, To’o and Leniu are all of Samoan heritage and played international games together. Their families are all still close despite the fact they play for different clubs.
Speaking in 2023, Crichton opened up about how difficult it was for him to depart the Panthers and leave his ‘brothers’ To’o and Luai behind. “’Bizza’ (To’o) was the first person I told,” Crichton revealed. “He and his partner were pretty emotional. I grew up with them and he’s been my best mate ever since footy started.
“It was pretty sad telling him. I told him first out of all the boys, but I’m just trying to lap it up with Bizza and our last few sessions together. We’re heaps tight. Just the bond that we’ve had and success that we’ve had brought us together.
“Just not on the field, but off the field it’s just always fun, always mucking around. Our families are pretty close, too. We go to the same church as well, so we’ve kind of been together ever since we were young. We’re not brothers by blood, but we are brothers by choice. If I don’t see him for three months, we can catch up one day and it’s like we’ve never been apart.”
There was speculation last year that To’o wanted out of the Panthers after conversations he had with Crichton and Leniu in NSW State of Origin camp. But he’s since declared he’s more than happy at Penrith and wants to stay.
Penrith first-graders show support for NSW Cup team
The culture of the club was also summed up by the first-grade squad turning out to support their NSW Cup side on Saturday afternoon. The first-grade team have the weekend off after playing in Las Vegas last week, so decided to show their support for the reserve grade side at Parker Street Reserve in Penrith.
The Panthers side featured a number of fringe first-graders for their clash against the Newtown Jets, including Blaize Talagi, Jesse McLean, Brad Schneider and Mavrik Geyer. Superstar players Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin were spotted signing autographs for fans in another example of their class.
Nice to see the NRL squad watching on. Hard
