Premiership-winning forward Moses Leota has declared that he’d love to remain a one-club player and play out the rest of his career with the Panthers.
This Friday against the Sydney Roosters, Leota will officially surpass former Panthers forward James Fisher-Harris in games played for Penrith.
Both workhorses currently sit on 203 games in Penrith colours, with 30-year-old Leota expected to leapfrog his best mate – who now captain’s the New Zealand Warriors – tomorrow evening at Allianz Stadium.
“I actually didn’t know that,” Leota told Extra Time on Wednesday upon hearing of the quirky stat.
“That’s cool to get one on him.”
Leota has been a Panthers favourite ever since he made his debut under former coach Anthony Griffin a decade ago.
Signed until the end of the 2027 season, Leota said he’d love to stay at Penrith for the remainder of his career and perhaps notch up 300 NRL games.
“Yeah 100 per cent! This club’s been my home for so many years now and I want to repay the faith,” he said.
“They believed in me from the start, so I think that’s something that I want to do.”
The Panthers are enjoying a hot start to the 2026 NRL season, undefeated after two games against top contenders.
In Round 1, they held the reigning Premiers to zero points, while in Round 2 against the Sharks in Bathurst, the Panthers only conceded one try.
Leota said he’s proud to see his club’s trademark defence return after a lacklustre season last year.
To be honest, it was just a bit of complacency from us last year at the beginning of the year. I think we’ve fixed that, and we now need to get even better,” he said.
“We haven’t changed much, we’re just working hard for each other. We know the system and we’re just sticking to the defensive system we’ve got.
“We had the hunger last year, we just probably had a bit of complacency, and we’ve sort of knocked that on the head this year.”
Leota admits he’s also feeling a lot more comfortable playing alongside recently re-signed prop Lindsay Smith, who replaced Fisher-Harris in Penrith’s starting pack last season.
Leota said Smith has grown a lot as a player over the past 12 months.
“Larry’s feeling a lot better now since he started,” he said.
“I feel like he’s grown as a player and is getting better.
“I still have plenty of growing to go myself, but I feel like we’re both doing a good job.”
Meanwhile, Leota has backed fellow premiership winner and Samoan international Izack Tago to make his return to first grade in the not-too-distant future.
Tago, sitting on 99 NRL games, is yet to play in the NRL this year after a disrupted pre-season due to a personal matter.
Leota said Tago is taking his demotion from the top team rather well.
“He’s still the same Tago… still energetic and enjoying the company with the boys and just doing what he needs for the team,” Leota said.
“I would 100 per cent back him to return. Like I said, he’ll just do whatever is needed and I’m sure he’ll be ready when his time does come.”
In other news, News Corp reports that Penrith is poised to re-sign forward Luke Garner for two seasons.
