A little over 18 months ago, Brad Schneider was given a week's notice to pack up his life and head to the Super League knowing his dream of becoming an NRL player could be over.

Fast forward to tonight's grand final against Melbourne and the 23-year-old Panthers utility has the chance to come off the bench and cap his second coming in Australia with a premiership ring.

Penrith fans know how vital the impact of supersub Jack Cogger was to last year's grand final success and with question marks over Nathan Cleary's fitness, Schneider has to be ready to step into the fold.

If Schneider gets on the park it will complete a whirlwind period in which he was shown the door by NRL club Canberra and had to resurrect his career in England with Hull Kingston Rovers.

Signed by the late, great talent scout Peter Mulholland, Schneider was once touted to become a star halfback for Canberra after captaining his school to the national title.

He was named the Raiders' rookie of the year in 2022, but mid-2023 it began to dawn on him that he was no longer in the Green Machine's plans.

"I probably wasn't in contention for any spots, at least it didn't feel like I was," Schneider said.

"I got that feeling pretty quickly and I was pretty lucky that Hull KR came in for me.

"All I wanted to do was play regularly and there was an opportunity in England.

"There was a feeling of 'holy crap, I'm going to England', I'd never been before and it happened in a week.

"There's a few examples of people who have gone over there and then come back … I always wanted to come back, but whether it would happen or not I really wasn't sure."

Luckily for Schneider he started to realise his potential in a 12-match stint with Kingston Rovers.

In his first two games he kicked match-winning field goals, the second of which came in golden point and booked Rovers a Challenge Cup final berth.

He played at Wembley in a narrow final loss and took the club within 80 minutes of the Super League grand final.

Penrith came calling not long after and Schneider has proven a shrewd acquisition, deputising while Cleary and Luai have been out of the Panthers side at various points throughout this season.

"Ivan (Cleary) has been awesome for me and my development," Schneider said.

"It's pretty cool having been on that side of the world and then to be part of a grand final team is pretty crazy.

"Seeing what happened last year with 'Coggs' and how he went on and handled it, you know you've got to be ready for anything."

Join ABC Sport tonight for the NRL grand final via the live blog at abc.net.au/sport, and listen to the game on your local radio or on the Listen app.

AAP