Dubbo’s Kaide Ellis already has his sights set on a first grade spot for the Penrith Panthers in 2018 after helping his team to win the Intrust State Championship on Sunday.
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The 21-year-old was named man of the match for his effort in the front row as the Panthers dominated the highly fancied PNG Hunters side to win 42-18.
He drew plenty of praise for his workload during the match and now he wants to make the move into the top grade.
“I was 18th man a few times this year so the goal is to go one step further. That’s definitely at the top of the list for 2018,” he said.
The State Championship pits the best team from the Intrust Super Premiership NSW against their leading counterpart from Queensland to determine the overall winner.
Ellis said claiming the overall title was important after experiencing the elation of one grand final victory against Wyong in the NSW decider a fortnight earlier.
Coach Garth Brennan was able to tell them how much of an anti-climax it was to lose to a Queensland team after winning the Sydney final after experiencing it in 2014.
“The first time was good but the second time within two weeks was even better,” Ellis said.
“We worked hard last week and it paid off this week as well so I couldn’t be more proud of the boys.”
The Hunters had been outstanding in 2017, claiming the QLD minor premiership before beating the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the northern grand final 12-10.
However the Panthers had also showed good form as they beat Wyong two weeks earlier and were fired up.
Early nerves saw them trail 2-0 before Ellis and the forwards were able to settle things down. Once they did, the Hunters were never in the game.
It was 38-2 in favour of the Panthers at half-time after four tries from explosive centre Tony Satini and denied their rivals any way back into the game in the final 40 minutes.
“We know they’re a physical pack and they’re very passionate so we knew it was going to be a physical game,” Ellis said.
“I had to do plenty of homework during the week to work out how I was going to get around that and I just tried to get it over them and not let them get it over me.”
With the Intrust Super Premiership acting as a feeder to the NRL, the Panthers also had to deal with plenty of disruption with players moving in and out of the grade as injuries struck, but Ellis said they didn’t let it affect them.
“We’ve been a tight group all year and got along really well. We stick together and I think that plays a big part in what we’ve done,” he said.
