Much was made of Nathan Cleary's return for Penrith in the grand final rematch with South Sydney, but in the end it was two of the Panthers' lesser-known quantities who came to the fore.
Cleary got through his comeback game unscathed and kicked three goals in their 26-12 win at home on Friday night to ensure their unbeaten run to start the 2022 NRL season remains intact.
"I was nervous all week just about playing again and seeing how I'd go," said Cleary, who returned from off-season shoulder surgery.
"But once I got there today, I knew I was ready to go and I was quite confident with the preparation I've done.
"I'm still trying to get my feet and I'm very blessed to play in this team."
Cleary's return meant the Panthers got one of their grand final heroes back on deck, but the contribution from two of those who weren't part of last year's premiership win proved critical.
Centre Izack Tago has been filling the void left by Matt Burton and grabbed a try, while winger Taylan May scored a double, the second of which was a tip-toeing effort down the sidelined to dive past the covering Rabbitohs defence to score.
Tago and May, who was standing in for the injured Brian To'o, were unheralded commodities with a handful of games between them at the start of this year but have blossomed on Penrith's left edge.
"They're really exciting both of them as individuals, but they actually work really well together," said Panthers coach Ivan Cleary.
"They're good mates and have got a good connection.
"Apart from one little forced offload that Izack had that kind of gave Souths an opportunity to score the second try, I thought they were pretty clean in terms of errors.
"In a game of pretty high intensity, that's really good."
Second-rower Viliame Kikau put May in for one of his tries and has been tasked with guiding the young pair through the rigours of the NRL.
But as he noted, he hasn't had much to do.
"They are so confident, they don't just pull out their stuff throughout the game," he told AAP.
"I trust them because I see them do it in training. Nobody feels nervous because everybody knows they can do the job.
"We tell those boys to get out of their shell and talk and it helps me and Jarome (Luai) next to them."
