Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Gallen puts Yeo among all time best as the No. 13 leads NSW
Scott Bailey, AAP • May 28th, 2025 8:00 am
Blues captain Isaah Yeo will lead NSW against Queensland for the first time in State of Origin | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
Paul Gallen has labelled Isaah Yeo as one of the greatest locks of all time as the NSW star prepares to become the next No. 13 to captain the Blues.
Six months after assuming the Australian captaincy, Yeo will lead NSW for the first time on Wednesday night in the State of Origin series opener at Suncorp Stadium.
In doing so, the four-time Penrith premiership winner has a chance to tick off one of the last remaining feats available to him and lead NSW to Origin success.
NSW enter Wednesday night as favourites to defend the shield with all eyes on how halves Mitch Moses and Nathan Cleary combine in their first game together.
Yeo will be crucial to that as NSW's link man in the middle, while also leading the blue wall in defence.
"He will be remembered as one of the greats and he deserves it," Gallen, who was the last lock to captain the Blues, said.
"He is brilliant. The thing about Yeoy is he is known as a ball-playing lock, but he is more than that.
"He has the ability to play front row. He can play that hard role. If you're 10 metres out from your own line and you need someone to have a hit up, he will do it.
"But when you're in the 20-metre zone attacking the tryline, he comes alive. He is alive all over the field.
"He's got every part of the game you need to be remembered as a great forward."
The No. 13 is often overshadowed by the likes of Cleary at Penrith, but those close to the game believe the 30-year-old deserves as much recognition.
Nathan Cleary often gets the credit but Yeo has been a pillar of the Panthers' success | Photo: Dave Hunt/AAP
It was in that vein former NSW hard man Mark Geyer labelled Yeo an Immortal-in-waiting this week, a stance backed by Yeo's first Penrith captain Peter Wallace.
"The lock position we know now is pretty much because of Isaah Yeo," former Blues halfback Wallace, who is now an assistant at Penrith, said.
"Even in 2020, all forwards passed but there wasn't a link man in the middle. He was one of the first who excelled in doing that role.
"And then he has gone on to win four premierships in a row, captain his country and his state now. Won series with both as well.
"When you think about the Immortals, those Immortals that have been named, Yeoy has done just as much."
By his own admission, Yeo is uncomfortable when it comes to adulation.
The Dubbo product has long insisted his career goal was to outdo his father Justin and play more than 11 NRL games.
Yeo set out to better his dad's 11 NRL games, now he is skipper of Penrith, NSW and Australia | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
But after debuting as a centre and playing second row until the start of 2020, Yeo has done far more than that.
"He's absolutely one of the best, if not the best lock of all time," Penrith and NSW second-rower Liam Martin said.
"He plays 80 minutes week in week out, even at training doesn't skip a session at training.
"He just doesn't stop. He will be absolutely knackered. Then you see him get the ball and just carry three blokes 10 or 15 metres.
"He doesn't miss a tackle, maybe misses one every five weeks.
"He's reliable, you know what you'll get every week and he is someone you want to put your body on the line for. It's pretty special to play alongside him."
Vossy and Brandy on State of Origin Spygate
