Skipper confident Penrith’s young guns will handle expectations

HE’S Penrith’s most important player and captain Matt Moylan has assured fans that the team is ready to live up to their pre-season hype.

Bryce Cartwright, Matt Moylan and Trent Merrin are ready for the season ahead.

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HE’S Penrith’s most important player and captain Matt Moylan has assured fans that the team is ready to live up to their pre-season hype ahead of round one against St George Illawarra.

Penrith are the equal competition favourites, with the Melbourne Storm, and Moylan is adamant his side won’t crack under pressure.

“They (fans) can look forward to a good year. Hopefully we can start like we played towards the end of last year and play good footy,” he said.

“We want them to get out to games and support us. We definitely need their support and we can feel it when we’re out there on the field.”

Bryce Cartwright, Matt Moylan and Trent Merrin.

Former Test cricketer Ian Chappell once said the best captains are the ones who don’t go searching for the job, and that was the case when Moylan was approached by coach Anthony Griffin to be Penrith’s skipper last season.

“It was role that I had to learn on the run and it was good to have a few guys around me like Trent Merrin and Peter Wallace to help me get through it,” he said.

“I’ve learnt a lot and took a fair bit out of last season. You’ve always got to be on at training making sure you’re doing everything right.”

Penrith’s free spirited attack lit up the league last season, but one worry is that this year’s ‘spine’ of Moylan, Nathan Cleary, Te Maire Martin and Wallace haven’t played an NRL game together. Moylan’s confident the his young halves will combine well with himself and veteran Wallace.

“To be honest none of us have spoken about the fact we haven’t played together before and we’re going well,” Moylan said.

“We’re working hard at training to get our roles down pat and our first game together will be good.

Bryce Cartwright, Matt Moylan and Trent Merrin.

“Nathan and Te Maire are pretty level headed and hard working. They’re not happy just playing first grade, they want to play good first grade and have long careers.

“Peter’s be a massive help for us. The experience he’s has and the way he goes about his business definitely helps the younger guys.

Moylan was honest when asked about the favouritism tag, admitting it had been talked about.

“We’ve got a young squad and the favouritism has been brought up a few times but no-one here’s buying into it,” he said.

“We’ve just got to improve. We need to be patient as well.”

Penrith plays St George at UOW Jubilee Oval on Saturday at 4.30pm.