He may not have left them in the best fashion but coming up against his former club, that was all put to the side, as former Panthers centre Michael Jennings – now at the Roosters – got the last laugh, scoring twice as his side put the Penrith Panthers to the sword, winning 30-6.
It continued the Roosters solid start to the season, moving them into 3rd on the competition ladder as a result.
Despite the hype around the game and his first match against his former side, Jennings said that he was treating the game like any other, even if it felt weird facing his old team-mates.
“I was pretty excited that it was Penrith but my mindset was that I had a job to do and it came off,” Jennings said.
One of the pressing matters that Jennings pondered, was whether or not he should consider celebrating after scoring his tries or keeping quiet.
“I didn’t know what to do … I was just grateful to get the tries,” Jennings said.
“My heart is always going to be there (at Penrith). But I am really enjoying my football with the Roosters and the people that I play alongside.”
Despite their easy victory, Roosters coach Trent Robinson was disappointed with facts of his side’s performance, but did praise Jennings’ effort.
“I thought Penrith were real good and really made it hard for us,” Robinson said.
“I think Jenko’s brought quite a lot to us.
“He came to us with really good defensive movements and speed and agility.
“We’ve worked with him and understood what makes him tick and I think he’s enjoying the style that’s going with that as well.”
For Panthers coach Ivan Cleary, it was plain and simple. He could not fault his side’s effort but knew that his side just were not able to match it with the Roosters class.
“We were probably a little bit flat I thought maybe coming off Monday night,” Cleary said.
“I think that probably showed in the second half. We made three or four errors on tackle one and a few of them led to tries.
“I’m not going to go away from the game feeling like the boys didn’t have a go. It would be fair to say they probably had us for class today but we did everything we could.”
3. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
2. James Maloney
1. Michael Jennings