If you didn’t know better, you would have thought Isaah Yeo had enjoyed a very normal week leading into Saturday’s thumping win over the Sea Eagles.
But this was no ordinary preparation for the premiership-winning lock who became a dad for the second time on Thursday and then rocked up to training hours later to share the good news before ripping in for a full session.
It speaks volumes about a guy who loves the club almost as much as he adores his young family, and it’s why teammate Dylan Edwards dubbed him “the ultimate leader” for what he did during the week.
Yeo described it as a “whirlwind couple of days” with he and partner Ash originally planning to have their second child on Sunday, only for little Lennox to join the world a bit earlier than expected.
“She stood over the top of me at 6.30 and woke me up. By the time we got to the hospital it was about 7.30 or 7.40, and then we had him by 8.20,” Yeo said.
“She really pushed the limit there and we were cutting it fine, and we were all happy and healthy by the end of it. It was very fast.”
No one would have begrudged him if he’d stayed at hospital on the Thursday to be with his partner, their baby boy and the couple’s other child, but Yeo hopped back in the car and headed to the Panthers Academy to be with his teammates to devise a plan to stop the Sea Eagles.
“I was too pumped so I just wanted to tell everyone,” he said.
“They were only perched up so he 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.
“Training didn’t start until about 1pm and 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 I am. She did so well, my partner, and my little fella is happy and healthy.
“He (coach Ivan Cleary) kept me around to train.
“We had a nice session and then I went there and I slept there that night.
“I didn’t (sleep at the hospital) last night (Friday). I was a bit selfish and went home and even offloaded my daughter – she went and stayed at her nan’s. I had a really good night’s sleep but it was a bit selfish so I’ll try to make up for it tonight.”
Yeo showed no signs of exhaustion as he held the middle together in Penrith’s 44-12 win over the Sea Eagles, with his teammates in awe of his dedication to the team during one of the best weeks of his life.
“I told him to go back to hospital,” Edwards said when he saw Yeo at training on Thursday.
“He had a good session with us and then he went back. I’m super stoked for him because he’s such an awesome player, mate and obviously partner and dad.
“He’s the ultimate leader. He’s our captain and he leads by example. 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.
“You wouldn’t have even known, that’s how professional he is. You wouldn’t have known that he’d been up earlier and been through the emotion of having a baby.
“He trained really well like he always does and he was able to come out and perform on the weekend.”
