WHEN Josh Belfanti was first named in Penrith's 2022 SG Ball train-on squad he was not sure if he would see any game time for the Panthers - now he's part of a playing unit that has reached the grand final.
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Last Saturday the St Pat's product watched on from the bench as his Panthers team-mates posted a 25-6 win over the Newcastle Knights to book their spot in the decider.
Given the Knights had beaten the Panthers 32-18 in the final round of the regular season it was a result which surprised some, but Belfanti had faith in his team-mates.
"I sort of knew we had a good enough team to do it, but saying you can do it is different to actually doing it. So I'm pretty proud of the boys," the back rower said.
"It's real good and what made it better was that they [Knights] beat us in round nine. Being able to beat them in the semi, yeah, that was pretty good.
"We've only lost two games this season, so it's definitely an improvement on last year and now we're in a grand final."
As Belfanti indicated, season 2022 has been an improvement for the Panthers, who placed 10th in last year's SG Ball premiership.
As for Belfanti himself there's been an improvement too with his decision to relocate to Penrith having paid dividends.
Despite catching COVID-19, he played in five of Panthers' eight round games and has in particular concentrated on improving his defensive contributions.
"Just being in the Penrith system is a great honour given that is probably the best junior system in the NRL. It's definitely a highlight of my footy career so far," he said.
"Moving here this year, training full-time, not just doing it on weekends, yeah I've definitely learned more. I moved in November when we started our pre-season, we're training four days a week.
"My defence is probably where I've improved most, I've done a fair bit of work with the defensive coach. I'm happy with that part of my game, obviously there are other things I want to work on and develop my game further, but I'm pretty happy with my defence.
"Every week after the game you sit down and do bit of individual video with each of the coaches and they give you feedback on how you're going, it's pretty good.
"COVID threw me around a little bit, it did to a few boys, but I'm definitely feeling good now."
While Panthers finished the regular season in fourth and upset Newcastle to book a spot in Saturday's grand final, they will need another mighty performance if they are to be crowed premiers.
They will take on a Roosters side which took out the minor premiership, accounted for the Bulldogs 32-12 in last Saturday's semi-final and boasts the best defensive record in the league.
Panthers will be the underdogs, but Belfanti believes they are capable of springing an upset and winning the SG Ball title for the first time since 2018.
"We're all feeling real good about this season, we've gotten close and have a got a real good bond together," he said.
"We haven't looked at them much this season, we didn't play them in the round games, but I'm 100 percent backing us to win it."
Saturday's grand final will kick-off at 2.30pm.
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