Becoming one of the highest-paid centres earlier this season, Izack Tago will feature in his third NRL Grand Final on Sunday, but the 22-year-old still can't believe he is where he's at.
A proud St Mary's Saints junior, Tago has become one of the club's best outside backs since his debut in 2021, but it hasn't been without its fair share of difficulty.
A contender to make his State of Origin debut for the NSW Blues team in the opening match of this year's series, his form, unfortunately, dropped where there were calls for him to be stepped down into the NSW Cup competition.
Instead, Ivan Cleary remained hopeful of Tago and kept him in the line-up which has seen him be one of their best in recent months.
The centre even admitted that he has re-claimed his best form of the season ahead of the 2024 NRL Grand Final against the Melbourne Storm.
"It's definitely surreal. The longer I've been here, the more faith I have in the boys to get here," Tago toldย Zero Tackle.
"You know, it's never a given, but it's just confidence within what we have built here, like our culture and things like that.
"(We are) never looking to far ahead but just always having that in the back of my mind, like we can get here if we want to. Now it's just reaping the fruits of our labour."
RELATED >> 'That's what I'll be working towards': Tago's Origin ambitions are clear
With multiple players departing the club at the end of the season, Tago is eager to send off long-time friend Sunia Turuva in the best way possible.
Recounting memories of the two, the Samoan international recounted the first time they met, which occurred when they faced each other in a school football match.
"I remember I'd done a chip and chase (in school footy) and he was fullback and kicked it out," he added.
"I always just give it to him for not wanting to further finish it out. That was the only time we played against each other."
Losing his former centre pairings Stephen Crichton to the Canterbury Bulldogs in the off-season and Taylan May in the middle of the season, Tago and Penrith have relied on a young star in Paul Alamoti.
Picked up from Belmore on a one-year contract, Alamoti has gone from a back-up player to playing in his maiden NRL Grand Final on Sunday, following in the footsteps of Crichton, Matt Burton, Charlie Staines and Paul Momirovski in recent years.
"He's a freak. He was pretty quiet when he first came in but he's definitely came out now so it's good to just have him and his energy around the squad," Tago added.
"He's playing like a gun, so he's going to be big for us. We're both centres so we bounce a lot off each other and have a lot of back and forth.
"He's really smart about it as well, so it's good."
