Fiji Bati fullback Sunia Turuva will be a player to look out for in the Penrith Panthers lineup when they play the New Zealand Warriors in the second quarterfinal of the NRL on Saturday.
Plenty of teams have taken the approach of punting the ball down towards the left edge of Panthers this season as a means to limit the effectiveness of Origin winger Brian To’o on the other side, but the work of Turuva has meant they found little reprieve in that tactic.
Having entered 2023 with just three NRL appearances to his name, Turuva was thrust into a full-time gig when Taylan May suffered a season-ending knee injury in the pre-season and has been excellent.
According to NRL, the 21-year-old heads into the finals sitting sixth in the competition for metres gained at an average of 170 per game and has broken through 109 tackles in 23 games, with his work ethic proving so important for a Penrith side that rely on their outside backs getting through plenty of the tough stuff each week.
The Panthers vs Warriors match will kick off at 6.05pm at BlueBet Stadium in New South Wales.
