Source :- THE AGE NEWS
On the first day of spring last year, Brian To’o was smelling all the roses that rugby league had to offer.
In an all-black suit with a silver chain looped from his lapel, To’o walked onto a stage in front of 500 guests at The Star in Sydney to collect his second Brad Fittler Medal as NSW’s best player of the Origin series – the cherry on top of four straight premierships with Penrith from 2021 to 2024.
Three games. Five tries. Seven tackle busts. Five line breaks. 241 metres per game with ball in hand.
And, level with Michael O’Connor, Jarryd Hayne and Josh Addo-Carr for the most tries (11) by a player in a sky-blue jersey. With a Penrith five-peat on his mind. How good.
A year later, To’o is no longer an incumbent Blues winger. He is no longer part of a reigning premiership team.
He will not be a Panther for life. But good luck telling To’o this is the beginning of a slippery slide.
“The sky’s still the limit, man,” says the softly spoken Samoan ahead of Penrith’s preliminary final against Newcastle on Sunday.
“I want more. I want to be able to do way more than has already been written.
“There is still a long way to go, and by the time I hang up the boots, I want to be happy with myself and what I have done for the game.”
It’s a strange thing to hear from a man with four premiership rings. Or is it?
In a professional sense, To’o’s past 12 months could loosely be described as adversity. “Different” is probably more apt for a player with one of the most glittering CVs in the game.
Penrith were bundled out of the 2025 preliminary final by eventual premiers Brisbane. To’o was axed by Blues coach Laurie Daley for a famous decider in Brisbane in July. Then came the confirmation that his time at the only NRL club he has known has an end date, after signing a three-year deal with the PNG Chiefs from the 2028 season.
Real adversity, To’o would argue, is something else entirely.
It is sleeping on the floor of a three-bedroom fibro house in Mount Druitt shared with his parents and six siblings. It is watching Mum and Dad make sacrifices so their children did not have to. It is losing his younger sister Dannielle to cancer in 2008.
Against that backdrop, missing an Origin game barely registers on life’s scale of hardship.
“If I’m gonna be able to come back into the team, I’ve got to earn it. The jersey is never yours. You’re always the caretaker.”Brian To’o
That doesn’t mean it didn’t sting. The disappointment of being overlooked for Jack Bostock in game three at Suncorp Stadium was real.
To’o says it “100 per cent” became personal motivation for the remainder of Penrith’s season. The winger has scored five tries in his past four games as the Panthers move through September – the month they have made their own for most of this decade.
To’o (18) is second to Billy Slater (23) for the most tries scored in NRL finals matches. However, his strike rate of a try every 1.06 matches is superior to Slater’s 1.39.
“You’ve got to go back to clubland and play your best footy,” To’o says. “That gave me motivation to do my best for my brothers here at the Panthers, and hopefully next year I get a crack [for the Blues].
“You’re not always going to get everything right, and some things won’t go your way. If I feel like the team is better without me, then I’m all for it.
“It just showed that I need to be better in my own personal game. If I’m gonna be able to come back into the team, I’ve got to earn it. The jersey is never yours. You’re always the caretaker for the jersey. I’ve got to earn it back.”
That attitude goes some way to explaining why Penrith are back here again. Their premiership dynasty may have ended last year, but there is every chance that flame is reignited.
What makes Penrith’s sustained success all the more remarkable is the talent who have walked out along the way: Matt Burton, Kurt Capewell, Api Koroisau, Viliame Kikau, Stephen Crichton, Spencer Leniu, Jarome Luai and James Fisher-Harris. There are others.
Through it all, To’o has been one of the constants. But even his time at the foot of the mountains comes with a countdown.
The opportunities to add another premiership alongside Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo, Dylan Edwards, Liam Martin and Moses Leota – men with whom he has shared almost every significant moment of his career – are finite.
“I’m sure Bizza [To’o] would say he had a bit of an up and down year to begin with,” Martin said.
“But credit to him, he’s worked hard, and he’s really hitting his form at the right time. He’s such a key part of our team. He’ll be massive on Sunday.
“He’s been the best winger for the past six years. He gets through a pile of work, and if there’s a tough carry, he’s the guy coming off the back fence.”
For a club accustomed to saying farewell to stars and somehow finding a way to keep winning, To’o’s impending departure in 12 months carries a different feel.
He has been there for every premiership and every iteration of a side that keeps regenerating around its champion core.
He has changed as a person, too. Fatherhood often does that. Once the young kid who would muck around in team meetings – “you start to mature a little bit … it’s pretty cool to be one of the leaders” – To’o finds himself among the old heads.
“It’s just making sure I’m not taking anything for granted and making the most of my time here,” he says.
There is another adventure waiting. Unlike his close mate Luai, To’o signed for PNG without visiting the facilities. He’ll get his first look next month when he tours with Samoa for the Rugby League World Cup.
The 28-year-old sees parallels between PNG and Samoa. Having watched Luai become the face of the Chiefs after signing in April, To’o wants to be a source of inspiration in the only country in the world where rugby league is the national sport. Those third-party deals his mate Luai is racking up look pretty enticing too.
“I want to be that beacon [of light] and return a bit of glory to the people in PNG,” To’o says. “It was more of the opportunity to do something great for a nation.
“Footy is everything to those people. Being a proud Samoan boy, it reminded me of back home, seeing all the smiles the kids had with ‘Romey’ there. Seeing them sign Zac Lomax and Joey Manu was pretty cool to see.
“I just didn’t see myself in different colours in the NRL.”
The excitement and nerves are much the same as most years. To’o and Penrith know what is required. They’ve been here before, and last year’s stumble, in the corresponding week, has not been forgotten.
Since his Origin omission, To’o has caught hundreds of high balls, honed his tackling technique and refined his running style with ball in hand.
“The belief just keeps getting bigger and bigger, with us” To’o says.
“There are so many young boys who are emerging into this team … way more mature than what I was when I first came in.
“I never get enough of you doing good for my teams, whether it’s Samoa, Penrith or the Blues. This club has always been my family. It will always be my family.
“I’m just making every moment count, man.”
