- Penrith captain Isaiah Yeo was gracious in victory
- Lock was one of the Panthers’ best in the title win.
Panthers captain Isaah Yeo has been applauded for making a surprising gesture towards his rivals after Penrith’s historic 14-6 victory over the Storm in the NRL grand final.
In a drama-filled grand final that included a scathing accusation and a bunker controversy, Penrith prevailed late in front of a crowd of 80,156 at the Accor Stadium on Sunday night.
The victory makes them only the third team in history to win four consecutive premierships, and the first since the great St George’s team won 11 in a row between 1956 and 1966.
As the players celebrated at full-time, Yeo showed why he is considered a role model for younger players.
The captain could be seen walking towards the shattered Storm stars, helping them up from the grass and comforting them.
A journalist asked him if he had made that elegant gesture because he had experienced defeat in a decisive match.
“Yeah, probably that, I’ve been on the other end and it’s a sinking feeling,” Yeo replied.
“They’ve had an incredible season, they finished the minor premierships with three wins, so it’s certainly a season to be proud of.”
Issah Yeo pictured helping Storm players off the field as his teammates celebrated
Yeo said afterwards that Storm should be proud of his efforts in 2024.
“But I feel like I’ve done that most of the time, obviously excited for my group, but also a little sorry for them.”
“I just said what a good season they’ve had and yeah, I try to do that most years to be fair.”
Yeo declared Penrith’s fourth title will never be repeated after they sealed their status as rugby league’s best team in almost 60 years.
“I’d be surprised (if it’s done again),” Yeo said.
‘The way the salary cap is, it’s a very special group.
“We may not be the prettiest team when we play throughout the season, but I feel like our game holds up very well at the end.
Penrith sealed their status as the best rugby league team in almost 60 years
‘We just backed our defense a lot. “We had real faith in our defense and we’ve shown that over the last five years.”
Penrith players wore all four premiership rings after the match, following wins over South Sydney, Parramatta and Brisbane since 2021.
“I’m just looking at some of the guys with four rings on their hands and wondering how this happened,” coach Ivan Cleary said.
“It just feels like it validates everything we’ve done and tried to be tonight.” “I couldn’t be prouder.”
