PENRITH captain Peter Wallace has revealed that leaving the club at the back end of the 2007 NRL season was one of the best moves of his career, but he couldn’t be happier with his return to the Panthers club.
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Wallace will return from injury in his team’s round 20 clash with Cronulla tomorrow at Carrington Park and is hoping to help his side to a steadying victory after they were easily defeated 32-12 last week by the Roosters.
The 28-year-old supported Penrith as a junior, having grown up in Blaxland, and debuted with the club in 2005, but the relationship soured somewhat a few years later and he signed with the Brisbane Broncos for 2008.
With Phil Gould taking over as general manager at the Panthers, there has been a concerted effort to bring experienced and off-contract players to the club, and among them is Wallace.
Along with the likes of Jamie Soward and Brent Kite, he has added experience and leadership to a talented squad, and they find themselves second on the ladder six weeks out from the finals.
He is glad to be back in the black, but said he has no regrets about his initial move.
“It has been great to come back home. To be honest, I never saw myself leaving in the first place back when I started out at Penrith,” he said.
“But I got an opportunity to leave and go to Brisbane and, realistically, it was the best thing I ever did. I enjoyed my time up there and learned a lot.
“Coming back, though, has been fantastic, and to be given the honour of captaining the side is huge as well. All the boys in the squad have been great and given me a lot of support.”
There were many critics, particularly in the media, who questioned the wisdom of Penrith chasing after those who were perceived to be players who were past their best.
Wallace, Kite in the front row and five-eighth Soward were three in particular, but along with younger signings like Jamal Idris, Kevin Naiqama and Tyrone Peachey, the recruitment strategy has been a masterstroke.
The skipper said he expected it to take a lot longer to manifest.
“Even I have to admit that I’m surprised at how quickly it has come together,” he said yesterday after an appearance alongside Kite and centre Dean Whare at the Cathedral School.
“It was a bit of an unknown as to just how we would go with a lot of players coming into the squad from elsewhere, from all over the place really. I thought it would take some time.
“We still have some improving to do but, yeah, it has been a surprise that we’ve gelled so well so quickly.”
As rapid as the improvement has been at the foot of the mountains, they still have a job to do in order to secure their finals position and they will be desperate to start tomorrow against the Sharks.
In recent times the Sharks (16th) have been almost impossible to read, coming from 22-0 down to beat the Broncos and 24-0 down to defeat the Roosters, only to lose 36-18 at home to the Cowboys last weekend.
Wallace isn’t underestimating them and knows the importance of tomorrow’s clash.
“It is a very important game. The way the competition is and how close all the teams are means that a couple of losses will see us slide down very quickly,” he said.
“Especially given that we’re coming off a loss last week, we can’t afford to drop this one.
“I’m 100 per cent fit, I am back earlier than expected but it [his ankle] has come along very well, so I’m ready to go.”
PENRITH PANTHERS: Matt Moylan, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Dean Whare, Jamal Idris, Kevin Naiqama, Jamie Soward, Peter Wallace (c), Nigel Plum, James Segeyaro, Brent Kite, Bryce Cartwright, Isaah Yeo, Elijah Taylor. Interchange: Lewis Brown, Jeremy Latimore, Adam Docker, Sam McKendry, Sika Manu (one to be omitted).