After playing his best game in Panthers’ colours all season, hulking prop Mose Mosoe has revealed for the first time why he’s leaving the club at the end of the season.
Speaking with Extra Time, the man they call the “wrecking ball” said he’s leaving Penrith for English Super League club St Helens because it was a great opportunity for him and his young family.
“We want to travel and I think it was the right time for me to go,” he said.
“I really want to come back to the NRL one day, so I didn’t want to go to England when I was older because I wouldn’t have been able to provide as much.
“I want to go over there and challenge myself and hopefully come back to the NRL.”
24-year-old Masoe has had an outstanding season since joining the Panthers from the Sydney Roosters in the off-season.
Last Saturday during Penrith’s 25-10 win over St George-Illawarra, Masoe, who came off the bench, ran a whopping 192 metres – that’s more metres than any of the other 33 players that took the field that game.
Masoe said it was a really tough decision to leave his Panthers’ contract a year early because he was starting to find some form.
“It was really tough because I’m finally getting my rhythm here,” he said.
“I was just starting to come good, I could feel the momentum, I could feel the boys were coming good too. But I just thought it was time for my family and I to go experience the world.”
Joining Masoe in the north of England next year will be Panther teammate Luke Walsh, who also signed a two-year deal with St Helens.
“I actually didn’t know Walshy was going there as well until all of it sudden it came out, so it was kind of good because he’s like a little General here, he orders you around,” Masoe admitted.
So while it may be bon voyage for now for Masoe, if and when he does come back to the NRL, his first option will be to return for another stint, a longer stint, at the Panthers.
“I would love to come back to Penrith… you can just feel it in the players and coaching staff that something special is going to happen here sometime soon,” Masoe said.
