The Penrith Panthers have saluted prop Jeremy Latimore, who has just completed a Bachelor of Business at the University of Wollongong.
Latimore commenced his studies in 2012 as part of the UOW Graduates of League program. At the time he was playing for St George-Illawarra Dragons.
Despite moving to the Panthers the following season, the 29-year-old remained committed to his studies and regularly commuted to Wollongong to attend classes until he completed his final exams last month.
"With the travel, that was obviously pretty hard but with the support of Graduates of League they were really helpful," Latimore said.
"Now that I've done my exams I'm looking to start working with Pepper Finance – one of our sponsors, and get some real-world experience and build for my career post-rugby league."
Latimore was a member of the 2014 NRL Academic Team of the Year and in 2015 was the Panthers nominee for the prestigious Ken Stephen Medal, in recognition of his significant contribution to charity and community initiatives.
"Rugby league is such a short career span and from the under-20s there is only a minute minority that come through to play NRL, so it's great the NRL encourages under-20s players to get an education," Latimore said.
"It's a good distraction and it's good to have something else outside of rugby league."
This story and video first appeared on penrithpanthers.com.au