Penrith’s young players are about to experience the best week of their lives in the run-up to the NRL grand final against Melbourne Storm

Grand final week is the best week of your life.

All the work that has gone into it, all the ups and downs that you’ve gone through throughout the season and even your whole career, that all comes into it.

It’s actually hard to explain. It’s just an amazing week and it comes back to all the hard work that’s gone into you getting there.

You don’t want to wait, you just want to get out onto the field and play.

With Penrith being in the final — and being there with such a young team, just like we were in 2003 — it brings back a lot of great memories.

I was in these kids’ shoes 17 years ago. I was only a young kid, I didn’t really understand the game.

I certainly didn’t know how hard it would be to get back into the grand final, but in time I…