Dyldam Parramatta Eels forward Peni Terepo says he’s pumped about the NRL Auckland Nines this weekend, where he’ll get to show his skills on the park.
After a successful trial gama against the Wests Tigers, Peni says he’s keen to continue building for the season ahead.
“It was good to get our first hitout, that first game under our belt,” he said.
“It’s always nervewracking, our first game of the year, but it was good - our team was confident and everyone knew what they were doing.”
The 22 year old says he’s excited at the prospect of playing in front of his home crowd in Auckland.
“That’s where I’m from and I’d love to play in front of my family… I can’t wait to get over there,” he said.
“I feel [the Nines] is based on speed and explosive types of players, and I think I could be that type of player.”
After the 60-14 win over the Wests Tigers in last week’s trial in Alice Springs, Peni says the team is more confident in there ability to cause some upsets.
“It gives the boys a lot of confidence, and it shows the coach and spectators what we can do, and we proved what we can do this year,” he said.
“Our coach said to us we need to be leaders ourselves, and do things on our own and not wait for other to tell us what to do; so it builds confidence in the young players to know what they’re doing.”
But before the Nines, the players had some fun at Wet ’n’ Wild Sydney, the largest water theme park in the world!
“The boys can’t wait to get in there, it’s my first time here, and I can’t wait to have some fun,” he said.
And Peni dobbed in someone pretty important as who’d win the award for biggest sook:
“Probably the coach - he sooks every training session!” he laughed.
Click here to see our Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines team!
