Kevin Kingston says Penrith will use Luke Lewis’ cancer scare as motivation to finish the NRL season strongly and honour the star back-rower’s legacy at the club.
A neck scan last month revealed Lewis had thyroid cancer in his neck, which was removed in two surgeries leading to the 29-year-old being given the all clear earlier this week.
Lewis, who will join Cronulla in the off-season, will still need to take medication and is no chance of playing when the Panthers host Gold Coast on Saturday, but that hasn’t stopped teammates drawing inspiration from his battle.
Lewis delivered an impassioned speech this week to the team which Kingston, who took over the Panthers captaincy mid-year from Lewis, said ensured the Titans match carried extra significance.
“(The news about Lewis) definitely does make this game even more special,” Kingston told AAP on Friday.
“He came and spoke to us all during the week and he spoke with passion.
“That filters through to the game and we’ll definitely be playing for him.”
Penrith players have known for a fortnight of Lewis’ condition, which Kingston said had helped them come to terms with the news which rocked them initially.
“It definitely rocked us as well,” he said.
“We’ve had some time to adjust to it and we’ve just been looking out for him and seeing how he is doing.
“We’re backing him 100 per cent. We really feel for him and his family at the moment.”
The Titans, who enter this match in 10th spot and two points outside the top eight, remain a chance of reaching the finals – but would need results to fall their way as well as four points from their final two matches.
Kingston believes after a rough start the Titans have emerged as one of the competition’s form teams over the past three months as they’ve marched into finals contention.
“They’re playing to their potential now,” Kingston, who is just 24 short of making 1000 tackles this season, said.
“They’ve always been really good but they just couldn’t put it together at the start of the season.
“They have a lot of threats there, they have so many attacking weapons across the field.
“We’ll definitely have to be on our toes.”
The key to the Titans mid-season revival has been a series of masterful performances by veteran halfback and captain Scott Prince.
But Kingston believes the Panthers have a plan in place that can limit his effectiveness.
“You’ve got to cut his time down and cut his options down,” he said.
“The way we defend I believe we can do that.”