Sunia Turuva thought he may have played his last NRL game for Penrith when coach Ivan Cleary dropped him to NSW Cup.
Turuva admitted he deserved to be cut from the first-grade side, but after a stellar return to the NRL the Wests Tigers recruit feels primed to end his time at Penrith on a high.
Concerned about Turuva's defence, Cleary pulled the winger aside last month and told him he would be replaced by Daine Laurie for the round-24 clash against Melbourne.
The coach had previously relegated Turuva to 18th man for the round-18 win over Brisbane in July, but the latest spell stretched into a second week with the loss to Canberra.
Turuva turned his attention to helping the in-form Laurie prepare for his new role, determined to approach Cleary's home truths in the right way.
"For myself, I found it a good thing, having those tough convos with him," Turuva told AAP.
"We pride ourselves on defence here, we've just been leaking a few too many tries, especially myself.
"There was just no way I was going to drop my head after what happened. I knew (being dropped) was for my own good, I knew that I hadn't performed the way I would've loved to this year."
But even the famously upbeat Turuva, bound for the Tigers in 2025, couldn't help but ponder whether the axing might have left him to finish his career at the Panthers in NSW Cup.
"It did cross my mind a couple of times, I'll be honest," he said.
"Even if it did happen, Cup just secured their finals spot. I was still glad to be playing with them.
"I had the mindset that even if I finished the year in Cup, I would've kept my head high. Even with the Cup boys, I love being around them."
Despite impressing when called to replace Dylan Edwards at fullback this season, Laurie largely struggled on the wing, lacking the same physical presence as Fijian international Turuva.
Cleary scrapped the experiment for Friday's clash against South Sydney and on his return Turuva bagged two tries down the left side and ran for 141 metres as the Panthers confirmed a 34-12 win.
"It was possibly his best game of the year," Cleary said.
Now, Turuva is keen to make the most of his final games at the club that scouted him as a teenager, supported him through the death of his mother in 2021 and turned him into a premiership-winning winger last season.
Jarome Luai, also bound for Wests Tigers, has been making sure Turuva enjoys every last minute.
"Our last two or three games, even when I was 18th man, me and 'Romey' would be walking in from warm-up and he'd be tipping me up that it's the last ride, the last couple of games," Turuva said.
" After the (Souths) game, we were just looking around, trying to soak it all in.
"There's no words what this club has done for myself, obviously I've been through a fair bit and they were there to pick me up. I'm forever in debt to these guys."
