Winger Sunia Turuva sees similarities between the new-look Wests Tigers and NRL juggernauts Penrith as he makes a hot start to life at his new club.
The former Panther scored a hat-trick of tries in Wests' 32-6 dismantling of Parramatta on Sunday, only his second game for the three-time reigning wooden spooners.
Fijian international Turuva steamed down the right flank to bamboozle the Eels all afternoon, finding pockets of space high and low as he crashed and dived into the right corner.
The two-time premiership-winning winger picked up where he left off from last season, when a try in Penrith's grand final triumph counted among his 17 for the year.
Turuva said he'd noticed links between the improving Tigers and the Panthers after joining the club with five-eighth Jarome Luai this year.
"(Our set-up) is similar to be honest. One reason is because we have Jarome here," Turuva told AAP.
"He's driving the standard, driving the culture.
"It's a real young group, so that's pretty good for me as well. Hopefully we can change this club around."
Benji Marshall had a near full-strength squad available in round two, welcoming back try-scorers Jahream Bula and Starford To'a, as well as captain Api Koroisau.
The Tigers conceded the least amount of points they have in any game since June 2021 as they welcomed back their reinforcements.
Terrell May and Alex Seyfarth led the defence as they contributed to one in four Tiger tackles.
But it was 19-year-old five-eighth Lachlan Galvin who stole the show amid fresh speculation about his future, scoring a try, setting up two and gelling with an energetic Luai.
"(Galvin) he's the man. Lachie, Jarome, Api, Starford, it's good to see our strongest team out there," Turuva said.
"For us consistency (matters most). It's something we've been doing during the pre-season. I'm trying to win and turn up each day."
