Incoming Knights recruit Jack Cogger is keen to "right a few wrongs" returning to his debut club next season, but first he hopes to depart Penrith with a premiership ring.
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Cogger has been named in the Panthers' No.14 jersey for Sunday's grand final against Brisbane at Accor Stadium.
It will be his last game before joining Newcastle for the next three seasons.
If the Toukley Hawks junior walks away victorious, he will become just the fifth player in Knights history to join the club immediately after winning a grand final.
Slade Griffin (Melbourne, 2017) was the most recent recruit to do so, following Neville Costigan (St George Illawarra, 2010) Ben Cross (Melbourne, 2007) and Michael Hagan (Canterbury, 1988).
A former Knights and Bulldogs player, Cogger linked with Penrith on a single-season deal late last year, returning from two years in the Super League. He has spent 2023 as the back-up to starting halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai.
The 26-year-old has made 12 NRL appearances, playing an important role covering for either half when they've been injured.
But now, a month after securing his future at the Knights, he is just days away from playing on the code's biggest stage, after being kept in Penrith's side as a utility.
"I couldn't ask for anything more," Cogger told the Newcastle Herald.
"To be playing in a grand final and secure your future for a couple of years at the club where you made your debut, and where all your family and friends are from, if you told me 12 months ago that's how my next six months will look, I would have been happy but I wouldn't have believed you.
"It's really exciting. Hopefully I can finish up here with a ring, and then I'll worry about the move and doing well [at Newcastle]."
Cogger describes his past year as "surreal". Less than a week after Penrith beat Parramatta in last year's grand final, he received a call from coach Ivan Cleary.
The playmaker had spent two years at English side Huddersfield, but always harboured a desire to return to the NRL.
He had shown promise at his previous clubs Canterbury and Newcastle, where he debuted in 2016, but not locked in a role.
"It was only five, six days post-grand final that Ivan gave me a call," Cogger said.
"A lot of clubs had sorted their top-30 [rosters] out for 2023, so there was slim choice.
"When you get a call from Penrith and it's only days out from the grand final, I remember my manager telling me and going: 'Ah, is that legit? It sounds a bit like a joke'.
"They said 'we want to chat' and I was still overseas with different timezones ... [but] within 48 hours I'd had a Zoom call and within 72 hours I had a contract, and a couple hours later I'd signed it.
"It's a credit to Penrith, how well they do everything, not just on the field but off it as well."
Penrith are on the cusp of wining their third consecutive premiership, and after a year at the club, Cogger knows why. He's gained valuable insight into what makes the western-Sydney powerhouse so successful.
"First day, it was just a lift in intensity. Sometimes you see that on the first day of training, but we're in our last week and it hasn't dropped one bit," he said.
"Everyone loves coming into training, that's one thing, but there's really high standards right throughout the club. When a kid comes up from 20s or SG Ball, they know what to do and what's expected. Everyone, everyday, is about getting better."
Cogger, whose dad Trevor played 161 games for Western Suburbs between 1981-91, has never even attended an NRL grand final. He has mixed emotions ahead of the game, given it will be his last for Penrith.
"I've only been here 12 months, but the club means a lot to me," he said.
"They gave me an opportunity to strive to be an NRL player again. Without them, I wouldn't have that. To see I can be a part of a club that is so successful, with elite training, hard work and diligence to what we do every day ... I like to think it's made me a better player. I'll be forever grateful."
On signing with Newcastle, Cogger was attracted to returning home, and felt like he had unfinished business at the club where he made his first 20 NRL appearances.
"I left on decent and good terms, but at the time we were struggling, we weren't winning many games," he said.
"The opportunity to come back and play in front of family and friends, [is] one [reason], but to right a few wrongs from the first couple of years of my career, turn those things around and have more wins.
"It's an opportunity a lot of people don't get, to go back to where it all started.
"I'm really excited to come back."
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