He technically made hie NRL debut in Round 26 last year, but only featured for six minutes off the bench following two Panthers HIA’s.

The Penrith Panthers tried to play sillybuggars and named Tom Jenkins in place of Dylan Edwards, but with Jaxen Edgar on the bench, I brought forward a segment of The Pipeline¹ in anticipation of him making his first start.

He has scored 15 tries in 15 matches for the Panthers NSW Cup side this season. Without watching them all back, I’d guess 10 or 11 of them came by pushing up around the ball and in support on a linebreak.

The 20-year-old is always sniffing around the ruck, looking to use his speed to catch out slow-moving middles. But that isn’t to say he won’t pop up on the edge. Down the right edge, in particular.

Edgar is slight. He’s unlikely to have anywhere near the defensive impact Dylan Edwards does, and will be a target for Mitchell Moses and Ronald Volkman under the highball. Nonetheless, when the Panthers are in possession, expect to see Edgar in the frame more often than not.

It came a little bit earlier than I expected, but I covered Javon Andrews last week ahead of him being named to make his NRL debut in Round 21.

Javon Andrews is another young half coming through with a high ceiling. He’s only 19-years-old but hasn’t looked out of place making the jump to NSW Cup this year and has put up impressive numbers across his 15 matches.

His best action, though, is the double/triple-pump into a short ball. He plays with a lot of time when running down hill and is happy to play deep into the line. We so often see young halves rush decisions or premeditate the pass, but Andrews plays with great poise for his age.

The Penrith Panthers play with the best defence in the NRL overall, but one team can lay claim to conceding fewer tries down one particular edge.