Tom Jenkins is one of the nicest guys in the NRL. It’s why he found it so difficult having to lie to everyone during one of the toughest weeks of his career.
Most NRL fans know the story of how Tom Jenkins resurrected his career at the Panthers last season, only to lose his spot in the finals despite scoring 13 tries in 21 games.
But only a handful of people know the painful truth about what he went through during the week leading into Penrith’s finals clash in New Zealand.
Jenkins had been one of the feel-good stories of the year after returning to the golden west without any guarantees before a brilliant pre-season earnt him a spot in the side where he was one of their most consistent players.
It’s why on September 8, five days before their game against the Warriors, the reliable outside back spent nine minutes fielding questions from journalists about how awesome it would be to play his first finals match.
What the media didn’t know on that Monday morning was that Jenkins had just been told by coach Ivan Cleary that he wouldn’t be in the 17 and he’d been replaced by Paul Alamoti, who had a terrific finals series.
“I like to be an honest person so it was hard to be misleading,” Jenkins told the NewsWire, with the winger not giving anything away at the time even though it must have been so uncomfortable.
“It’s also part of footy. You naturally have to swallow your pride at times and do what’s best for the team. At the time, that was what was best. Ivan and I had the conversation and I knew what was happening.
“Naturally, it was hard talking about my first finals series and how exciting it is when you’re not playing, but I was just trying to keep an open mind because you never know what might happen.
“If there was an injury, Ivan put the confidence in me that I could go out and do the job.”
Jenkins appreciated Cleary’s honesty and that he told him so early in the week.
“There was a lot of disappointment there and I was spewing that I missed out,” he said.
“But in saying that, I appreciated Ivan’s honesty and how early he told me. He got on the front foot and didn’t beat around the bush. He explained it and I was OK with it.
“Naturally, you’re upset because you want to be there, but that’s footy and you can’t change some things.”
The brutal selection call was justified as Alamoti came in and dominated, with the powerful outside back scoring three tries and busting 15 tackles in their big win over the Bulldogs in the second week of the finals.
It’s why Jenkins says his coach made the right call, and it’s why he spent the pre-season working on ways to elevate his own game.
“It was more of a case of how I could improve my game,” he explained.
I spoke with the head of performance here on what to improve and how I can get my body right for the season, whether that was putting on weight, getting stronger or different things.
“I implemented a few things over the pre-season but nothing too drastic.”
The footy gods work in mysterious ways, with Jenkins not named in the original starting squad last week, only for him to be picked on the left wing where he scored a double in the win over the Broncos.
“I found out early last week. It wasn’t a big thing. It was a simple case of him (Cleary) telling me that I was going to start,” he said following a much better meeting with his coach.
“That was exciting and something that I was keen for and ready to take that challenge.”
He has kept his spot in the team ahead of Izack Tago for Saturday’s game against Cronulla, with Jenkins and the Panthers looking for a much different result compared to what happened last year in Bathurst when they were embarrassed by the Knights.
“It was so disappointing to go out there and put on that kind of performance. It’s never something that you want to do,” he said, with that loss turning their season around.
“I wouldn’t say that’s been brought up because it’s in the past and we’re more focused on what we can do this year.”
