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Had long-serving Penrith recruitment manager Jim Jones not gone to the country NSW town of Forbes one autumn morning more than a decade ago, he is convinced Isaah Yeo would have never been discovered.
“There’s a good chance he could have been playing for the Dubbo CYMS in the local A-grade comp – not chasing a possible fifth NRL premiership with the Panthers,” Jones said.
In a classic sliding doors moment, Jones revealed the day he attended Red Bend Catholic College to watch trials for the Southern Country team.
The best 17 players from that day would head to Sydney to try their luck at making the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges team.
Selectors spotted Jones and asked him to help with proceedings. He initially told them he was there as a fan.
“But I was glad I was there in the end because the teachers were never going to pick ‘Yeoy’,” Jones said.
Penrith on-field leader Isaah Yeo.Credit: Getty Images
“Every recruitment officer gets a hunch. I had a hunch with him.
“I don’t know what would have happened had I not been there. Who knows, maybe Yeoy would have still been playing in Dubbo.
“He was on the bench for his team. He was wearing the No.14. But he was tall, mobile, tough, and skilful.
“The selectors asked me at the end of the day what I thought. They were like, ‘What about this fella?’, and I was like, ‘Yep’, then I asked, ‘What happened to the No.14?’. They said, ‘We didn’t pick him’. I said, ‘You better put him back in’. He was the only bloke I liked all day.”
Yeo made the cut and went to Sydney, but missed out on the NSW CCC team. He remained on Jones’ radar and was later signed by Penrith.
Jones had similar “hunches” with Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards, and even Liam Martin, two of Yeo’s teammates who will feature in Sunday’s preliminary final against the Broncos.
There were also a couple of players Jones missed, like the day he was sent to the Confraternity Carnival, a popular schoolboys tournament in Queensland, in the early 1990s, with the simple instruction of landing one signature.
He wanted two and begged Phil Gould, who was then working with the Panthers, only to be told to stick with one.
Wendell Sailor is one who ‘got away’ from the Panthers.Credit: Getty Images
“I signed a fullback, Butch Fatnowna, who was brilliant,” Jones said.
“But he broke his ankle, and by the time he was ready to come down to Sydney, he had put on a bit of weight.
“Gus was into me about it, but I said, ‘you wouldn’t let me sign two’. That second player I wanted was Wendell Sailor.”
Sailor went on to win premierships with the Broncos and became a dual international.
Isaah Yeo doing the hard work earlier this year.Credit: Getty Images
“I still have a picture on the wall in my office of Wendell with the message, ‘thanks for not picking me, Jimmy’,” Jones said.
Yeo’s father, Justin, recalled his boy “being OK, but never a standout, and certainly never the first kid picked”.
“He was a bit like he is now, always strong, with little difference between his best game and worst game,” Yeo snr said.
“Most of the time, he looked like another player. I remember he was playing SG Ball, and Ivan Cleary walked into the box at the very moment Isaah made a break and did something special. The coaches told Ivan, ‘that’s Isaah Yeo’.
Isaah Yeo led the Kangaroos at last year’s Pacific Championships.Credit: Getty Images
“You often wonder if things would have been different had Ivan not walked into the box at that very moment, or looked up to see what Isaah was doing at that exact time.
“I teach at a school in Mudgee, and I still tell the kids how you need to make the most of every moment and opportunity; if you get an opportunity, it’s up to you what you do with it.”
The kid wearing the No.14 jersey that day in 2012 – and who made a break when Cleary took a peek – has become one of the most influential forwards in the game.
The attributes he provides are a large part of the reason Penrith can defeat Brisbane and give themselves a shot at five straight premierships next Sunday.
Yeo is admired on both sides of the border, with Cameron Smith – the Melbourne, Queensland, and Australian legend who finished with 430 NRL games – praising the 30-year-old’s durability.
“When you look at his last five years, Isaah has barely missed a game of footy,” Smith said.
“It’s the standard he plays that I admire the most about him. He’s never under a seven out of 10. And that’s a hard thing to do in the NRL. It’s hard enough to play that regularly and consistently, let alone play Origin and international footy on top of that.
“The style he plays differs from week to week. Sometimes he’s that link player and passes rather than running. Then he’ll change that. He adapts to what the team needs.
‘You better put him back in’. He was the only bloke I liked all day.’
Penrith recruitment guru Jim Jones on a young Isaah Yeo“He’s durable and consistent and plays the team game – it’s never about him looking for any kind of stat, it’s only about what the team needs him to do, and that’s what he does every week.”
Yeo is already the most-capped Panthers player with 265 NRL games. He is contracted until the end of 2027, which should see him surpass 300 games.
Only a brave man would be prepared to put the pen through him reaching 400 games, but those close to him are convinced a swansong in England and the Super League is more likely.
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Meanwhile, Panthers fans, who have not stopped applauding the last few years, can continue to enjoy Yeo.
Some of his younger teammates, like fellow country boy Liam Henry, appreciate the chance to learn from the man who has had the same receding hairline since that day he trialled at Red Bend College.
“I can get a bit frantic at times, and feel like I have to do more than I need to, but he’ll come over, with a calm head, wrap his arm around you, and tell you the key areas to focus on, and to keep things simple – he’s someone I aspire to be,” Henry said.
Dubbo’s loss has been Penrith’s gain.
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