Two-time Panthers premiership winner Luke Garner would love to remain at Penrith beyond this year, but he doesn’t want to get too caught up in the emotion of possibly leaving the foot of the Mountains.
The 30-year-old arrived at the Panthers in 2023 following five seasons with the Wests Tigers. A long-time favourite of coach Ivan Cleary’s, Garner is one of the club’s most experienced players with 127 NRL games under his belt.
With his signature in demand around the league, especially with Perth and PNG set to enter the competition in the coming years, Garner has a lot to weigh up.
The likeable backrower said he doesn’t want to think too much about what’s next.
I’m trying not to get caught up in all that type of stuff,” Garner said.
“If you worry about that too much, it can probably take away from the way you play or how you train because you’re wasting too much energy on that type of stuff.
“I just try and let my football do the talking. I’ll just be training hard, playing hard and then whatever happens, happens.”
With Scott Sorensen and Liam Henry already WA-bound next year, speculation is mounting on whether Garner could be the next Panther to enter the Bears’ den.
Garner said his number one priority is to stay right where he is at the Panthers.
“Of course, I love this place!” he said.
“Ever since I came here, ever since I walked through those doors, I’ve enjoyed coming here every day. So if I could do that, extend here and stay for a little bit longer, it would be nice.”
With representative second-rower Liam Martin set to miss some time due to a calf strain, Garner will start in his place for tomorrow’s night blockbuster season opener against the new Premiers, Brisbane, at Suncorp Stadium.
Garner, who travelled over to the United States with his wife in the recent off-season, said he’s hoping for a positive start to the new year with a Panthers victory.
“It’s exciting! I think it will be a very similar atmosphere to what it was in the Prelim Final last year,” he said.
“They’ll be looking to avenge their World Club Challenge loss no doubt and I guess we’ll be looking to get one back on them from last year.
“In the past, we’ve been looked at as the hunted but now we’re back to being the hunters – even though we always considered ourselves that. We’re looking forward to getting back out there and showing that on Friday.”
The Panthers are slight underdogs against the Broncos despite naming a near full-strength side for Friday’s clash.
Garner said he’s looking forward to getting back out onto the paddock and putting his increased fitness levels to the test.
“At this club we pride ourselves on our fitness and I’ve worked really hard on that in the off-season,” he said.
“I tried to improve all aspects of my game over the past few months. I know I’m not the perfect player and there’s still plenty to work on, so I’ve just been chipping away on that every week.”
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.
