The extraordinary story of fearless Panthers prop Moses Leota

Living in a caravan out the back of his uncle’s house in Mt Druitt, Moses Leota began working for a relative’s bricklaying company at 14 — leading to Penrith officials wanting to cut him loose.

Moses Leota will be a key player for Penrith in the NRL grand final. Picture: Jonathan Ng

With cement and mud caked into his hands, a teenage Moses Leota raced into Panthers training in his work boots, apologising for being 20 minutes late.

As he hurriedly swapped his steel caps for footy boots, Leota kept his head down, feeling the eyes of the Penrith coaching staff drilling holes into his back.

Some within the organisation had mistaken the young front-rower as ill-disciplined and lacking the focus to make it, and therefore wanted to cut him loose.

“If it wasn’t for footy, I’d probably still be digging holes now,’’ Leota said.

Leota, 19 at the time, weighing 120kgs and playing for the Panthers under-20s team, had been working as a brickies labourer since the age of 14.

This is the part of the story worth recalling when the going gets tough in Sunday night’s grand final.

Leota left school in year nine, just two years after saying goodbye to his family in Auckland as a 12-year-old.

Living in a caravan out the back of his uncle’s house in Mt Druitt, Leota began working for a relative’s bricklaying company.

“They were long days,” Leota said ahead of his fourth grand final appearance.

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Moses Leota started out working as a brickies labourer since the age of 14. Picture: Jonathan Ng

On that day back in 2014, when Leota turned up to training with blisters and dust in his eyes, Penrith recruitment manager Jim Jones intercepted the daggers of the coaching staff.

“I went to Moses and asked him, ‘what are you doing?’,” Jones said.

“He was trying to work all day as a brickie and then trying to train, so I said to him, ‘why don’t I get you a better job?’’’

Jones rang his mate down the road, John Dunn, the principal dealer at Annlyn Motors Volvo.

Dunn gave Leota a job detailing cars for $15-an-hour.

“Three months later, I rang John and asked, ‘how’s that kid going, is he still turning up?’,’’ Jones said.

“John said: “He’s been working six days a week for three months and hasn’t missed a day.’’

At that point, Jones knew he had a player with the character trait that head coach Ivan Cleary views as paramount towards building a roster.

“He had the work-ethic and once he was able to concentrate on his football, instead of busting his backside on the worksite all day, he then just started to progress through the grades,” Jones said.

“Once Ivan and the rest of the staff got hold of him, off he went.

“He’s a really unassuming bloke, he doesn’t have tickets on himself, he’s very polite and he deserves everything he gets.’’

Moses Leota will be a key player for Penrith in the NRL grand final. Picture: Jonathan Ng. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Jones makes a good point about the front-rower’s humble nature.

In a team that boasts the game’s biggest names, Leota’s under-the-radar influence on the Panthers is easily overlooked by fans and commentators observing from afar.

He boasts more tackle busts (31) than wrecking-ball Spencer Leniu (29), more offloads (15) than Isaah Yeo (12) and more average run metres (103) than Scott Sorensen (96).

Yet nothing says more about the regard for Leota inside the Penrith machine than this.

Of the current grand final team, Leota is in the top echelon of players to be contracted until the end of 2027, alongside representative stars Nathan Cleary, Brian To’o, Liam Martin and Yeo.

The only player with a longer deal at the club is champion fullback Dylan Edwards (2028).

It’s an extraordinary achievement for the hard-running prop who was almost let go.

“It’s credit to the club for giving me the opportunity to live out my childhood dreams,’’ Leota said.

“It’s surreal now that I’ve been to a few grand finals.’’

Moses Leota is contracted to the Panthers until 2027. Picture: Getty Images

THE BADDEST MAN IN THE NRL GRAND FINAL

Moses Leota will prepare for his heavyweight showdown with a fearsome Broncos forward pack by watching clips of Mike Tyson on YouTube.

The Penrith prop with granite shoulders and a thirst for work says boxing legend “Iron Mike” will be a crucial part of his grand final countdown.

“It will be a big this weekend coming up against Payne Haas, (Pat) Carrian and (Thomas) Flegler,” Leota said.

“They’ve played awesome all year and we’ll really need to be on our game.

“Before the game, I try to be as positive as I can.

“I try to hype myself up by talking to myself.

“I tell myself, ‘You’ve got this.’

“I watch YouTube clips of Mike Tyson and the way he talks to himself.

“I try to do that for myself as well.

“He was a beast. The baddest man on the planet.”

Asked if he was planning on being the baddest man on the field in the grand final, Leota replied: “I’ll try to be.”

Originally published as The extraordinary story of fearless Panthers prop Moses Leota