Isaah Yeo will become the first player to hit 250 games for the Penrith Panthers on Friday night, permanently etching the transformed star into the club’s record books.

Making his NRL debut in 2014, Yeo has stuck by Penrith for more 10 years, evolving through positional changes to become one the greatest players the club has seen.

“It’s not just about running out for 250, he has played a lot of quality games for them,” rugby league great Gorden Tallis said on NRL 360.

The four-time premiership-winning co-captain, 30, boasts three Merv Cartwright Medals and five Dally M awards, however his road to 250 games was one of transformation.

The kid from Dubbo began his NRL career playing centre – and was pushed out to wing for a single game in 2014 by the return of Jamal Idris – before being promoted to a team regular and starting second-rower under former coach Anthony Griffin in 2016.

After five seasons and 100 games with Penrith playing on the edge, Yeo took on another positional switch, playing his first games at lock in 2019 under Ivan Cleary.

From 2020 onwards, Yeo has remained at No.13 and the Panthers have never looked stronger, beginning their historic premiership four-peat in 2021.

The 30-year-old has proven to be a crucial asset, showing versatility and ball strength in all areas of the field – though he has increasingly become akin to a third playmaker in the middle of the field.

Yeo handles the ball in similar volume to many halves – his touches are at an all-time high of 38 per game this season, compared to 11.9 in his rookie year, according to Fox Sports Lab – and his heat map shows that he is heavily involved at the attacking end of the field.

His run metres are down so far this season – 91m per game, from a career-high of 125m per game last year – as he has taken on an even greater playmaking load after the exit of Jarome Luai and an early injury to Nathan Cleary.

While players like Cleary and Luai have their own lofty legacies, Yeo’s remarkable set of 250 games and his captaincy arguably position him as the linchpin of the Penrith dynasty.

“He (Yeo) plays like a back-up halfback, when things go pear shaped with Nathan or Nathan has to come off the field, in comes Isaah. He plays this brilliant ball playing style,” veteran News Corp rugby league reporter David Riccio said on NRL 360.

Yeo is among an elite group of Penrith legends, yet his 250-game achievement and quartet of premierships begs the question: is he the greatest-ever Panther?

“The greatest respect you can give Isaah Yeo comes from the legends from Penrith; Royce Simmons, Greg Alexander, Brad Fittler, so many of them speak that Isaah Yeo will go down as the greatest Panther of all time,” Riccio said.

Braith Anasta added: “When you first watched him play in the centres for the Penrith Panthers, there is not one person that could have predicted where this guy was heading in his career and the player he has become.”

Yeo was named the 2024 Dally M Lock of the Year and also led the Kangaroos to an undefeated run in the Pacific Championships last year.