Henry's journey from small-town tradie to NRL stardom

When Penrith recruitment guru Jim Jones takes a break from his desk and strolls out to watch the NRL side train, there's always one player who gives him a wave and a shout from the field.

It makes sense the vast majority are too focused on their work to acknowledge passers-by; unflinching discipline has won the Panthers three straight premierships, and they're gunning for a fourth.

But most players aren't Liam Henry - the loveable prop who has quietly become the Panthers' breakout player of 2024.

It's quite the mental image: 105kg Henry, the man they call 'Smiley', hollering from the training paddock to the man who brought him all the way to the NRL.

That journey began in the sleepy town of Blayney more than five years ago, and it's now only 80 minutes away from the bright lights of the NRL grand final.

After dropping out of school in year 10, Henry began a career as a metal fabricator, welding together ute trays in his 3,000-strong hometown on the road from Bathurst to Cowra.

Henry kept up his footy - he loved it too much to quit - and was picked for local representative side the Western Rams as a 17-year-old in 2019.

That was when Jones first spotted Henry, "a stringbean" in those days with plenty to learn and plenty of development in front of him.

But having scouted the likes of Dylan Edwards, Isaah Yeo and Matt Burton, Jones knows potential when he sees it.

"It's always a bit of a punt," Jones told AAP.

"But he (Henry) looked like he was going to get bigger, which he has. He had good leg speed and he was tough, his toughness and work rate were very good.

"He seemed like a really nice kid and his family seemed like nice people."

It wasn't long before Jones had invited Henry and his parents to make the 180km drive down to Penrith for a tour of the Panthers' centre of excellence.

"I could've signed there and then," Henry told AAP.

"(Jones) said, 'See what you reckon and come back if you're happy'. I think we turned around and came back straight away."

For the first few years, Henry continued to ply his trade as a metal fabricator in St Marys, juggling the apprenticeship with footy in the Panthers' lower grades.

He lived with then-teammates Burton, Charlie Staines and Tom Jenkins at the so-called "Panthers House", a shared lodging in Cranebrook for the starry-eyed country kids scouted to Penrith.

Plenty of the Panthers' regional recruits struggle with the transition to the big smoke, with the club open to giving their country juniors a spell back home if the load becomes too heavy.

But Henry has always rolled with the punches.

"He might've been a bit homesick or he mightn't have been in the starting side from week to week, but he never showed it," Jones said.

"He was a pretty resilient character."

Resilience and hard work have been the key ingredients of Henry's breakout season, the prop becoming the latest Penrith junior to turn heads around the league.

He's made 22 appearances so far this year, most of those wearing body blows in the middle of the park.

Henry came within three tackles of equalling the NRL record for most in a game when he laid 78 tackles in the round-13 loss to St George Illawarra.

The 22-year-old now sits second on the all-time leaderboard for that statistic behind Cronulla workhorse Cameron McInnes - not bad for someone in their first full NRL season.

Henry has become so driven to improve his game that he had been going on Strava runs around Mulgoa on his days off, until the Panthers' physiotherapists told him to ease up during finals.

"They weren't too bad, they just said now that we're focusing on maximising our training days," Henry said.

"It's getting to the crunch. So those days off, we're trying to get our recovery in and get set for the next day."

'Crunch' is right; Saturday's preliminary final against Cronulla is all that stands between the Panthers and a fifth consecutive grand final appearance.

It would be a first decider for Henry, an unbackable favourite for the Panthers' rookie of the year award, and a chance to snare the corresponding prize on Dally M night.

Henry lives up to his 'Smiley' nickname as he reflects on a breakthrough year at the Panthers, and what could lie ahead.

"I'm very, very excited," he said.

"I walk in some days and pinch myself. I'm very, very lucky.

"There's some great mentors and leaders around the club. I just try to soak it all in."