And on Wednesday night it was Dubbo's Isaah Yeo who was awarded the Merv Cartwright Medal at the club’s annual presentation.

Named in honour of the so-called ‘founding father’ who was instrumental in forming the Penrith Rugby League Club and getting it admitted into the NSW Rugby League, the medal recognises the Panthers’ player of the year.

“Dad absolutely loved Penrith … and he’d be very proud that this award is named in his name,” Merv’s son John told the audience.

“And he’d be even prouder of the guy that’s won this award: Isaah Yeo.”

An emotional Yeo accepted the award that he has dreamed of winning since emerging from the club’s junior ranks in 2014.

Read Yeo’s full speech below

“I enjoy coming to the club each and every day and, as much as I probably keep to myself and I’m not the most social person … I don’t like being the centre of attention very much … I love coming to this club, I love coming in to training each day,” the St John’s Dubbo junior said.

“I was obviously fortunate enough this year to play my 100th game, captain this club and I thought captaining this club would probably be one of the prouder moments of my career and it would be very hard to top, but this medal – I don’t think I can describe how much it means to me.

“I know you don’t play the game for these individual honours but this award … we all make goals for our careers and this was one. Obviously it wasn’t my goal particularly for this year but it was my goal for my career and whenever that ends so this is a massive moment.”

Yeo was part of the Panthers’ NYC premiership-winning side in 2013, and made his NRL debut in 2014.

A year later he was a regular starter, and in July he became the first from his NYC cohort to reach the 100-game milestone at Penrith.

Yeo made light of the Panthers’ habit of coming back from huge deficits, but paid tribute to his teammates’ spirits.

“There’s not many teams in the comp that can do what we do, both the starts – I don’t think many clubs can start as poorly as what we do – but then I don’t think many clubs can finish like what we do and I think that’s a credit to the players,” he said.

“I don’t think the effort of the team can be questioned, there’s 15 other sides that would have given up in the positions we’re in throughout the year and to come back in those I think is a credit to the players and a credit to the work ethic that’s been instilled with us.”

Yeo went on to pay tribute to friend and fellow NYC premiership-winning Panther Bryce Cartwright – Merv’s grandson – as well as his parents – Mudgee’s Justin and Amy Yeo – and siblings, and stand-in coach Cameron Ciraldo.

But his highest praise went to former captain Peter Wallace, who retired earlier this year.

Wallace’s decision was hard on Yeo, the latter revealed, despite the fact it paved the way for him to captain the side to victory in round 17.

“I’ve tried to grow into a leader the last couple of years and he’s been a massive security blanket for myself and obviously when he stopped playing I took that pretty hard,” Yeo said.

“He did an extreme amount for me and it’s something I’m very grateful for and obviously I wish I could have played with him this year and finished with a grand final for him because that’s what he deserved but that wasn’t the case.

“But in summary, this is awesome, this is one of the proudest moments of my career and I think it will be very hard to top.”

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Yeo: Obviously to John and the Cartwright family, it’s obviously one of the prouder moments of my career thus far.

“I was obviously fortunate enough this year to play my 100^th game, captain this club and I thought captaining this club would probably be one of the prouder moments of my career and it would be very hard to top, but this medal, I don’t think I can describe how much it means to me and I know you don’t play the game for these individual honours but this award sort of, we all make goals for our careers and this was one. Obviously it wasn’t my goal particularly for this year but it was my goal for my career and whenever that ends so this is a massive moment for myself and I’d obviously like to thank again the Cartwright family. I know how big this award is for the family and how big this award is for the club and how important the Cartwright name is. I was obviously fortunate enough to come through the ranks with Bryce and be very close with him and very fortunate enough to have Jed come along from the Gold Coast and obviously very fortunate to be very close mates with him and I’m about to tour America with him too which will be interesting so looking forward to that.

“I don’t really know what to say but in summary of the year I think that there’s not many teams in the comp that can do what we do, both the starts – I don’t think many clubs can start as poorly as what we do – but then I don’t think many clubs can finish like what we do and I think that’s a credit to the players, I don’t think the effort of the team can be questioned.

“There’s 15 other sides that would have given up in the positions we’re in throughout the year and to come back in those I think is a credit to the players and a credit to the work ethic that’s been instilled with us and obviously I’d quickly just like to thank obviously the players, I enjoy coming to the club each and every day and, as much as I probably keep to myself and I’m not the most social person, I don’t like this like this, I don’t like being the centre of attention very much, my hands are sweaty as we speak so, but I love coming to this club, I love coming into to training each day and obviously thank you to, I’ll say Ciro first, I thought the way he handled what he did at the end of the year and to have us playing like we did at the end of the year I thought was a massive credit to him and I think, personally for me, most importantly asides from my family, I’m very close with mum and dad and I’ve got brothers and sisters back home but for the team, and he probably doesn’t know this but the bloke I’m most close with and looked up to the most is Peter Wallace and I probably nearly took his retirement worse than what he did and I kept that to myself but I’ve tried to grow into a leader the last couple of years and he’s been a massive security blanket for myself and obviously when he stopped playing I took that pretty hard and obviously Jimmy Maloney did a fantastic job as captain and obviously when he was playing State of Origin I was fortunate enough to be able to take that role and I think I missed him a fair bit, he was my security blanket and he did an extreme amount for me and it’s something I’m very grateful for and obviously I wish I could have played with him this year and finished with a grand final for him because that’s what he deserved but that wasn’t the case.

“But in summary this is awesome, this is one of the proudest moments of my career and I think it will be very hard to top.”