Skipper Yeo made Penrith meeting hours after child born

Scott Bailey | April 9, 2023

Captain Isaah Yeo returned to training four hours after the birth of his second child in the latest demonstration of team commitment as Penrith pursue a third straight NRL premiership.

Yeo was his usual consistent self in the Panthers’ 44-12 win over Manly on Saturday night, after a hectic three days for the skipper and his partner Ash.

Initially due to give birth on Sunday, Ash entered labour when she woke on Thursday morning at 6.30am.

She had given birth to son Lennox by 8.20am, before Yeo arrived at Penrith training for a 1pm leadership meeting then a field session that evening.

“I was too pumped so I just wanted to tell everyone,” Yeo said. 

“He (Lennox) was sleeping, and Ash, my partner, was having a bit of a rest. 

“I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing twiddling my thumbs so I decided to go brag to all the boys at training that I’d just had a kid. It was a crazy couple of days.

“I didn’t get there until 12-12.30. I told everyone who walked in ‘I’ve just had a boy’. I was just pumped and I still am.”

Yeo said Penrith teammates told him to return to the hospital, but he figured there was little he could do with his daughter Haven staying at her grandparents’ house.

“I told him to go back to hospital,” fullback Dylan Edwards said.

“You wouldn’t have known that he’d been up earlier and been through the emotion of having a baby, that’s how professional he is. 

“He trained really well like he always does and he was able to come out and perform on the weekend.”

Yeo is not the first Panther to mix the birth of a child with a taxing football schedule, with Jarome Luai’s partner giving birth to their third child Halo during last year’s grand final week.

Edwards said that, while players differed on how long they stayed away following the birth of a child, Yeo’s return set the tone for players’ dedication to the team’s cause.

“He’s the ultimate leader. He’s our captain and he leads by example,” Edwards said.

“Everyone follows him and that was him wanting to be there for the team. 

“He’s a professional who wants to tick boxes, and that would have been important for him to be there and get that session done.”