Hosking's rise ignites back-row battle in Penrith

The battle for Penrith's edge back-rower position has begun with new recruit Zac Hosking’s recent form bound to have left coach Ivan Cleary with a selection headache ahead of their clash with Manly.

Fellow recruit Luke Garner was tipped from the start to fill the void left by the formidable Viliame Kikau on Penrith’s left edge, boasting 69 more games of NRL experience than 26-year-old Hosking heading into the 2023 season.

But injuries to the starting second-row duo, Liam Martin and 27-year-old Garner, has tested the depth within the premiers' back-row stocks in recent weeks.

Hosking has quickly proved himself a worthy contender to fill the left-edge role – scoring two tries, breaking 10 tackles and running for an average of 110 metres since making his debut as a Panther.  

“It’s a really good feeling. I really felt the effects of playing with guys of this standard and behind some really good leaders,” Hosking told NRL.com following the Panthers' 53-12 win over the Raiders.

“Coming into this season, I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to break into the side. To be able to do last week in Round 4, exceeded my expectations.

“I got a lot of confidence out of playing last week against the Eels, I got through the whole game there and it was a really big test with the battle of the west so that added a bit of confidence and hopefully it showed on the field.”

“Hopefully I can keep my spot in the side but at the moment I’m just doing whatever he (Ivan) says and doing it with a smile on my face.”

Linking up seamlessly with halfback Nathan Cleary and fullback Dylan Edwards to score his second try as a Panther on Friday, the Newcastle junior looked at home on the edge, making significant inroads in attack at GIO stadium.

With Kangaroos representative Martin having a mortgage on the No. 12 jersey, Hosking knows he faces tough competition in securing the opposite edge with premiership-winner Scott Sorenson and former-Tiger Garner all vying for the position.

“(Martin) was probably the form back-rower in the game last year and it showed in his World Cup campaign, so I’ve been able to learn off him and coming up against him at training helps my game massively,” Hosking said.

“Also running outside Nath (Cleary) as well, he’s the game’s best halfback and puts you into nice spaces and I’m really lucky to be able to run those lines outside him.

“You’ll hear every player say that competition for spots is healthy and makes everyone better.

“It keeps people out on the field after training and trying to fix little things in their game so that’s what it’s done for all of us. It’s been healthy competition but we get along like a house on fire so it’s been good.”

The son of former Manly cult hero David, if Hosking can manage to nail down a place in Cleary’s starting side this week, his third game as a Panther will test his Dad's faith as a Manly supporter.

“I’ve never versed Manly so if I’m picked, I think Dad will be cheering for me with his Manly polo on,” Hosking said.

“All my family is from Newcastle so if I’m playing they’ll definitely all be there.

“My brother supports them also but I actually supported the Storm because I loved Billy Slater.

“As far as Manly goes I’ve never followed them but there’s always been that thing in our family where it’s my old man’s side.

“They’ve been really good, they were really impressive in the trials. They’ve got some unreal players in the likes of Tommy Turbo [Trbojevic]. We’ll be doing our homework on him.”