The 17-year-old Graham, who helped steer Penrith to an impressive 22-16 win over Parramatta, is shaping as the most exciting player to emerge at the club since Fittler almost two decades ago.

In his third NRL appearance, Graham helped lay on two of the Panthers' four tries but afterwards he was keen to share the accolades with teammates, who include fellow rookies Lachlan Coote and Masada Iosefa.

"Penrith have always had a lot of good local juniors, the majority of the team are Penrith juniors so I wouldn't say we're the best," Graham said. "I think the coaching staff are just doing a really good job with the juniors and getting us ready for first grade."

Asked about the comparisons with Fittler, Graham said: "What I remember of Freddy was at the Roosters playing five-eighth but as soon as I found out he was a Penrith boy he became my favourite player from then on. He's the person I look up to the most at the moment."

Aside from this season in the Toyota Cup, Graham has played regularly with Coote in junior representative teams at Penrith, while he and Iosefa are both from the same Blacktown City club.

"Wade and I came through together and even though he's younger than me he's just so good," Iosefa said. "I feel comfortable playing with him because we know each other's game and I know what balls he likes and what sort of passes to fire at him. But the things he's doing in first grade are just freakish and he's getting better each week. "

Iosefa's own try to put Penrith ahead 16-0 could also be described as "freakish".

Running on to a pass from dummy-half near the Eels' line, the 20-year-old was the only Penrith player on the blind side, but after producing a Benji Marshall step - described by teammate Frank Pritchard as a "running away from the cops step" - he somehow managed to beat three Eels defenders to score.

"It was a bit of a fluke," Iosefa said. "My plan was just to get a quick play-the-ball but it worked out well." Earlier, Luke Lewis pulled down a Graham bomb and the boom playmaker fired a cut-out pass that led to Rhys Wesser crossing in the corner.

Coote, who made his debut a week after the others in the draw with Brisbane last Friday week, converted Wesser and Iosefa's tries from the sideline and revealed afterwards he had done some extra goalkicking practice with Daryl Halligan. "I didn't think I was too nervous but the pressure must have got to me a bit, being my first game and golden point. I kicked a lot better today," Coote said.