“Everything happened pretty quick … at the time, they’d just come off three premierships. I was just grateful for the opportunity.”
Alamoti repaid Cleary’s faith by playing in 16 games last season, scoring eight tries, including two in the preliminary and one in the grand final triumph over Melbourne.
Paul Alamoti and the Panthers celebrate their grand final win last year.Credit: Getty Images
This season he has been in and out of the team but earned a recall for the play-offs, displacing Thomas Jenkins on the wing, after a two-try showing in Penrith’s last-round win against St George Illawarra.
The 21-year-old spent three weeks in reserve grade mid-season, during which time “he didn’t kick stones”, in the words of skipper Isaah Yeo.
“It’s a fair rap on him and his character and personality … he didn’t just sort of wallow in self-pity,” Yeo said.
“He was making sure he turned up each day, playing unreal football in [NSW Cup], and then he got his opportunity, and now he’s playing in another final.”
Alamoti carried the ball for 161 metres and broke seven tackles in Penrith’s win against the Warriors in week one of the play-offs, continuing his impressive record in big games.
Paul Alamoti made an impressive start to his NRL career with Canterbury.Credit: NRL Photos
“I know you don’t want to look too far back, but he was just about our best player over that month period [12 months ago],” Yeo said. “His biggest games were the prelim and the grand final. He just stood up on the biggest occasions.”
The Tongan international was recalled in the penultimate round when Cleary rested 16 players, coincidentally against the Bulldogs.
Canterbury beat Penrith 28-4, but Alamoti was his team’s lone try-scorer. His performance a week later against the Dragons helped him leapfrog the well-performed Jenkins into the starting side.
“He was actually pretty much the first person to come and tell me that I’d be playing,” Alamaoti said of Jenkins. “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of love for him. He’s had a stellar year.”
Alamoti said it was “always a bit weird coming up against the old club”, but the result was all that mattered.
“It’s a finals game, do-or-die situation,” he said. “We’re playing to win, and they’ll be in the same position, too.”
In Alamoti’s lone season at the Bulldogs – Cameron Ciraldo’s first as head coach – they finished 15th and copped some hammerings, in particular a 66-0 humiliation at home against Newcastle.
The rookie centre could still see the potential.
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“I was actually pretty close to ‘Ciro’ [Ciraldo],” he said.
“I’d seen the vision that he was trying to bring to the Dogs. I knew that would eventually be a powerhouse team. Yeah, no surprise.
“This year, even last year, what they were able to achieve last year and this year, what they’ve done, I’m not surprised.”
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