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Inside quiet rise of Penrith’s secret weapon... and how answer to $6m Cleary question should terrify
Tom Sargeant from Fox Sports@tomsargeant97
September 18th, 2025 6:00 am
The Panthers have lost elite players each season in their dynasty, but Jarome Luai’s departure shaped as the biggest threat to stopping Ivan Cleary’s side in their tracks.
Then in stepped Blaize Talagi.
The 20-year-old made the bold decision to depart boyhood club Parramatta for bitter Western Sydney rival Penrith.
Talagi was seen as the Eels’ future, but he saw his own future elsewhere — specifically in the Panthers’ coveted, and vacated, No.6 jersey.
The allure of playing alongside Nathan Cleary was one pro of the move, as well as the chance to start at five-eighth, the position he has always wanted to play.
The Eels’ No.6 jersey, meanwhile, was at that stage blocked by Dylan Brown.
Talagi took a punt and had to bide his time— battling with a shoulder injury in pre-season before Jack Cole won the five-eighth spot to start the NRL season.
And that patient approach from coach Ivan Cleary has only helped Talagi harness the talent that keen rugby league eyes knew he possessed.
“I think Blaize is a tremendous talent, I think a disrupted pre-season probably didn’t help him, so it took him a little time for the coaches to be confident he was ready,” Panthers legend Greg Alexander said to
foxsports.com.au.
“Not that he wasn’t ready himself, but ready to fit in with the team because Penrith are such a well-oiled machine, (so) it’s taken him a while to settle in.
“That’s understandable, he’s 20. I think over the second part of the season we’ve seen Blaize develop and become more confident in what he needs to do to be a part of the team. Confident with those around him, and they’ve shown him some confidence.
“With someone like Blaize, who is an incredible talent, it’s time on the ground. That’s basically it and he’s got all the skills, the courage and everything.
“He ticks all the boxes as an individual, but it’s just him finding his place in the team.”
Luai, who would join Wests Tigers on a $6 million deal, had just put together arguably his most complete season.
In the absence of Cleary due to a hamstring injury, the now-Tigers marquee man stood up and shouldered the load of being a chief playmaker.
A role that he’d previously shirked, but one that proved just how big of a loss he was coming into the Panthers’ 2025 campaign.
“Jarome probably hadn’t been as important as he was last year. He was incredible last year and had to do a fair but of it without Nathan,” Alexander said.
“Which stamped just how important Jarome was. The combination between Jarome and Nathan is telepathic, or it was. So it’s hard to replicate that.”
But think back to the early seasons of Penrith’s four-year reign.
Cleary dominated with the boot and steered his troops around the park, while Luai danced and offloaded to his heart’s content.
As they evolved, it became clear Luai that was seeking a bigger, more dominant role. Talagi’s emergence has seen the Panthers go back to 2021, or 2022, or 2023. Take your pick.
“Blaize is his own player, more of a runner of the footy. It was vitally important (he found his feet at five-eighth),” Alexander said.
“Playing in the halves as well, it’s a key position. You’re a part of the spine, if your spine’s not working well you don’t win footy
“Just a difference, Blaize is a run-first player. That’s good because it’s different to Nathan, who is an organising half.
“He uses deception, whereas Blaize relied on just his speed and taking the defence on, which is a point of difference.”
And while Talagi has now locked down his spot alongside Cleary, his emergence didn’t happen overnight, but it has happened quietly.
The 20-year-old has somewhat flown under the radar, with the noise surrounding Ivan Cleary’s decision to hand Cole the keys to start the year sparking questions around his future.
But after a 73-minute performance against the Storm, off the bench, it was clear to all it was a matter of when, not if, Talagi became a key spine member for the Panthers.
Since then it’s been largely seamless, with the talented five-eighth scoring six tries and setting up 14 more while dominating proceedings on the left edge.
Training every day alongside Cleary has been crucial to his development, according to legendary playmaker Cooper Cronk.
“I just can’t go past Nathan Cleary and how he’s brought Talagi along,” Cronk said on Matty
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“If there was one thing that the Panthers spine needed, it needed some spark, some energy, some youthfulness and he (Talagi) is just working with Nathan ... it’s starting to warm up.”
Matty Johns also added: “Blaize through the middle of the year started to find his feet in the system, actually started to do a fair bit of ball-playing.
“But I expect that in this finals series you will see him essentially as a ball-running five-eighth.
“You’ve got Isaah and you’ve got Nathan there chipping away with your ball-playing, you don’t need another bloke finessing the ball sideways. I think he’ll be a runner.”
Alexander agreed with Cronk’s assessment, declaring there isn’t a better player to learn under in the NRL.
“Most definitely, because Nathan is the best. Watching him, training with him, listening to him has to help,” he said.
“But Blaize has his own skill set and that’s where Blaize starts, that’s where he is good. But in terms of forming a combination, he’s a pretty good guy to be forming one with.
“It
