Former Knights lower-grade player Zac Hosking has one eye on finals opportunity with defending premiers Penrith

The former Knights lower-grade player, and Central Newcastle junior, made his 12th NRL appearance for Penrith this season in the defending premier's 20-12 win over Newcastle on Saturday.

The 26-year-old has become a regular in coach Ivan Cleary's side after joining the club on a two-year deal.

Having made four appearances for Brisbane last year where he made his NRL debut, Hosking was initially expected to be on the fringe of Penrith's side this season but he has largely cemented his place in the team. He has started every game he has played and missed only one match since round four.

"I've been really, really loving my time here," Hosking told the Newcastle Herald after his side's victory at BlueBet Stadium on Saturday.

"I consider myself pretty lucky that I've been able to stay in the side since coming in. I'm really happy where I've landed here and couldn't imagine myself anywhere else at the moment."

A rookie in terms of his NRL experience, Hosking has looked at home in Penrith's side since playing in the World Club Challenge in February. He has played big minutes most weeks, averaging 68 per game, and proved a threat in attack and solid in defence. He has a 95.6 per cent tackle-efficiency rate, has scored two tries and made 26 tackle-breaks.

"Being in this group gives you a lot of confidence within yourself, and our preparation during the week is probably the best I've prepared my whole career," he said.

"I can't really say I'm going out onto the field not confident in what I can do and the team around me as well."

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With nine games remaining in the regular season, Hosking - the son of former Manly player David - is focused on keeping his spot in the team each week to ensure he is there come September.

"Keep putting in good performances and keep building the connections," he said.

"There's guys leaving and coming back from Origin this time of year, you've really got to train well and build those connections during the week. I feel like we've done that and put it on display tonight."

The Knights' NSW Cup player of the year in 2021 before departing the club to chase his NRL dream in Queensland, Hosking said it was hard not to think about being part of a run deep into this year's finals series.

"Whenever you're playing well, you don't want to have a bad game because you could be the guy who misses out the following week," he said.

"But for myself personally, I absolutely want to be in the side in the finals.

"You don't want to look too far ahead as the old cliche goes, but it's hard not to think that far ahead and picture yourself in the jersey come finals time."

Penrith were without five rested Origin players and injured halfback Nathan Cleary but proved just as clinical beating the Knights. The victory came a week after the same largely second-string side lost a 27-23 thriller to the Cowboys in Townsville.

"The whole theme for us this week was redemption. We threw away a game last week against the Cowboys in the second half that we should have taken home," Hosking said. "It was a real big focus within the group to go out and put on a performance like that.

"Especially being at home, we'd only had two home games in the last 11 weeks.

"We consider every home game a privilege."

Hosking, who faced the Knights in Newcastle in April, found the experience of playing his old club different second time around.

"It was quite mentally draining the first time we played them and I didn't want to fall into that trap again. Today, I was very relaxed and I just treated it like any other game," he said.

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