With a wedding on the horizon, Panthers star Sam McKendry is thankful the talk of him leaving the club in the near future has passed so he can finally settle down in the place he loves.
The 24-year-old former New Zealand international, along with fellow prop Tim Grant, have been the subject of intense rumours of late involving their immediate futures at the club.
McKendry said he’s glad those rumours have finally been put to bed, for the time being at least, so he can finally get on with his season and life.
“I don’t know too much about it (rumours of being released), I don’t read the papers,” he said.
“My partner and I are yet to plan a date for our wedding but I do want to stick around at Penrith, that’s for sure.”
While his partner on the field in Grant has copped the brunt of the ongoing speculation, including being dropped to the NSW Cup, McKendry has only ever been dropped to the bench, something he hopes is a rare occurrence.
“My form has been alright of late… I didn’t start the first couple of games but now I’ve finally got my starting position back,” McKendry said.
“I prefer to start because when I came off the bench I had to make sure I was an impact player.”
Last week both McKendry and Grant returned to the starting line-up in Penrith’s thrilling win over Canberra in atrocious conditions. While McKendry didn’t put up the numbers he was hoping for, just 53 metres gained, he was happy to run out with his best mate once again.
“It was good playing with Tim again but the conditions were terrible,” he said.
“It was one of those games where both teams couldn’t hold onto the ball. I’ve been in those conditions many times before coming from New Zealand and it’s never easy.
“I was very proud of our defence though, it’s something we work really hard on. You can tell by our defence in the last five minutes [of that match] that our attitude has changed this season.”
McKendry hopes that a victory over the inconsistent Rabbitohs on Friday at Sportingbet Stadium will get the club’s momentum going.
