Dubbo junior and Penrith Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo is confident his side's depth can continue the momentum come State of Origin time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Yeo and fellow co-captain Nathan Cleary are all but certainties to be selected in coach Brad Fittler's squad for Game one on June 9 but the emergence of winger Brian To'o plus the form of Jarome Luai and Stephen Crichton may see several players missing matches.
"We're lucky we've got incredible depth," Yeo told NRL.com.
"You're going to lose Nathan so that's when you bring in Matty Burton which is one of the reasons why we kept him.
"He's obviously had opportunities earlier than what people would have thought but he's the half depth and some real quality for us."
READ ALSO:
Burton has adapted better than many expected after playing the last three matches at left centre scoring three tries in those games.
Penrith's reserve grade squad is also in scintillating form in the opening rounds.
"NSW Cup haven't lost either which goes to show they're all playing well as well." Yeo said.
"When the time comes, it's still a little bit away, I imagine there'll be a couple playing and it will just be next man up which we've done so well over the last 18 months."
To'o is expected to be selected in the squad after some incredible performances including last round against Brisbane when he ran for 272 metres.
But incumbents Josh Addo-Carr and Daniel Tupou will be difficult to replace with the likes of Tom Trbojevic and Blake Ferguson also playing well but Yeo knows the attention on To'o is warranted.
"When a team's performing well it puts people into contention for that sort of stuff and you only have to look at Brian at the moment, he's probably the in-form winger of the comp and I guess when that happens rep football gets talked about as well," he said.
"It's a hard one to ignore if you're a selector - he works tremendously for us.
"He does all those little things that might go unnoticed but he defends well, he defuses bombs well. He obviously copped a fair few on the weekend."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News