The Penrith Panthers have announced club junior Daine Laurie will return to the club in 2024 on a one-year deal after an up and down stint at the Wests Tigers.
Laurie spent three seasons at the joint venture but struggled to nail down a spot after playing most of his career there at fullback.
The Tigers have played him sporadically at five-eighth this season, which many believe is his best position.
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The 24-year-old made his debut for the Panthers in 2020 before moving on, and has 46 NRL games and 10 tries to his name.
Panthers chief executive officer Matt Cameron said he was pleased to see the utility return.
“I look forward to welcoming Daine back to Panthers for the 2024 season,” Cameron said.
“It’s always rewarding to see a former Panther return home to the club, and we believe Daine can flourish in the Panthers environment.”
Tyrone Peachey also returned to the Panthers this year after a stint with the Tigers and has noticeably gone to another level since making the move back.
Laurie was one of the Tigers best on Thursday night in the side’s loss to the Dragons and left rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns in awe.
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“Freaky, absolutely freakish … he was like an old school five-eighth, he’d get the ball and just throw it to his centres, select kicking, his defence tonight (was great), his timing in defence, his footwork in defence and his technique getting up under players,” he said on Nine’s full-time coverage.
“He’s just got the magic, he’s got the Indigenous magic … he sees the game like all the great halves, that’s his spot, that’s his spot moving forward.”
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Former Penrith Panthers general manager Phil Gould retold a tale of seeing Laurie’s highlights for the first time before recruiting him to the club.
“I’d never seen anything like it, I took it to our recruitment manager Jim Jones and said ‘have a look at this, am I crazy? Is this not one of the best things you’ve ever seen?’,” he said.
“He came down, he was a skinny little kid, very, very shy and he got homesick a couple of times and wanted to go home.
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“He absolutely won an SG Ball grand final on his own, the team was gone and he produced two tries in no time to get a win for them and he’s kind of been a shy kid, little bit introverted, gets homesick, they wondered if he’d be big enough for first grade, they hid him at fullback and he had to make a fist of that, catching high balls and didn’t really like it.
“But he was always a five-eighth, he was always going to be a player that if he could handle defending in the front line, he would handle the skill part of it … tonight, some of his plays were pure playmaker play in how he constructed his set of six and his attacking plays, particularly down the short side, he’s a very talented player.
“Some of these boys come really good at the back end when they’re 28, 29, 30 … I think Daine Laurie’s got magic football in him, he’s just got to get a coach that believes in him and if they do he’ll blossom.”
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On Nine’s 100% Footy, 9news reporter Danny Weidler said the signing could have implications for current five-eighth Jarome Luai.
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“Where it’s interesting is he can play No.6, Jarome Luai comes off contract soon, I think Penrith have put a lot of money towards Dylan Edwards so maybe he’s being positioned in case they can’t keep Jarome Luai, which could be the case,” he said.
“I’m not saying that’s going to happen but Luai’s going to command a good price.”
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