Penrith's 2021 premiership team can now officially rival the great teams of this century and lay claim to being one of the most stacked sides of the NRL era.
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Already in the midst of the NRL's most dominant era, Penrith's dynasty will have a 13th State of Origin player when Dylan Edwards debuts on Wednesday night.
His maiden NSW jersey, coupled with Spencer Leniu and J'maine Hopgood's debuts this month, means the 2021 Panthers now have a full starting side of Origin players.
Add in Kiwis Scott Sorensen, Moses Leota and James Fisher-Harris and Viliame Kikau's status as a Fiji-only player, and the Panthers had 17 representative stars.
And as far as Edwards is concerned, that has helped his rise to being one of the NRL's elite fullbacks and winning the No.1 jumper for NSW.
"It's been good to be able to talk to those guys about what they experienced and how they felt during the games," the Blues fullback said.
"I'm close with a lot of those guys.
"They always brought that experience back (to Penrith).The standard goes up when those guys come back.
"Being able to talk about their experience and how they felt on the field, what they might have seen, what they might have felt, it's good."
Squads with 13 men who would play Origin in their career are extremely rare in the NRL-era.
Brisbane's 2000 squad remains the most representative-laden since the Super League war.
Of the squad of 30 players who won that year's premiership, no less than 22 played Origin for Queensland or NSW at some stage of their career.
Another, in Englishman Harvey Howard, also played Test football a first-tier nation.
Melbourne's illegally-assembled 2008 side also stands out for representative talent, with 15 men who played Origin at some point, along with two tier-one Test players.
St George Illawarra's 2011 team also had 13 past, present or future Origin players.
But Penrith's 2021 crew can now officially stand alongside those teams.
Most notable too, is the fact that Penrith produced the majority of their stars. Of the 13 Origin players, 10 made their NRL debuts at the Panthers.
Apisai Koroisau and Kurt Capewell also both earned representative status for the first time at Penrith, with Tevita Pangai Jnr the only outlier of the 2021 squad.
"It's pretty crazy. It's actually a lot of us, hey. The development and training we do at Penrith is pretty special," winger Brian To'o said.
"You can see everyone buys into it and even if they leave, that Penrith mentality sticks with them.
"After we lost the grand final in 2020 we looked at each other and wanted to come back the next year better.
"It's pretty crazy to see how everything has panned out since then."
Meanwhile, Tyrone Peachey, who played three Origin games for NSW in 2018, announced his retirement on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old, who has only made two appearances on the bench this season, said he would finish up at the end of 2024.
PENRITH'S 2021 PREMIERSHIP-WINNING REPRESENTATIVES
State of Origin: Dylan Edwards, Brian To'o, Isaah Yeo, Matt Burton, Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai, Nathan Cleary, Spencer Leniu, Apisai Koroisau, Tevita Pangai Jnr, Liam Martin, Kurt Capewell, J'maine Hopgood.
New Zealand: Scott Sorensen, James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota.
Other: Viliame Kikau (Fiji), Robert Jennings (Tonga), Taylan May, Tyrone May, Izack Tago (all Samoa).
Australian Associated Press
