And he comes in the form of softly spoken Kiwi James Fisher-Harris.
For all the talk of Brisbane whiz-kid Reece Walsh and Penrith's September points-scoring surge, Sunday night's grand final still looms as a battle of the middle.
The Panthers know they must find a way to stop the Broncos' fast play and offloads, denying them the chance to have Walsh attacking a broken line.
For that, they will look to Fisher-Harris as their middle leader.
"One hundred per cent he's the best (in the NRL)," fellow forward Spencer Leniu said.
"He's been racking up the stats for years and years. He kind of gets swept under the rug compared to other front-rowers.
"Moses Leota too. He's sort of like a dark-horse front-rower. No one really talks about him.
"But if we really pay attention about what front-rowers are supposed to do, he does everything."
Other Penrith players agree.
"He's in unbelievable form. He's our forward leader," Leota said of Fisher-Harris.
"He's been leading from the front since day one. I wouldn't want to run out with any other front-rower.
"He's got all the attributes: he can pass, he can back-fence, he can step, and he can hit like a rock."
Rarely one to attract headlines on or off the field, Fisher-Harris shies away from any talk of where he stands in the front-row rankings.
But his teammates believe he is not getting the credit he deserves.
"He's played at such a consistently high level for a long stretch that he's not getting spoken about enough," captain Isaah Yeo said.
"There's been a couple of front-rowers have had stand-out years, but he's doing that every single year. Sometimes he can sort of go unnoticed.
"He's built into this season really well, it feels like he's playing his best football at the moment.
"He goes to another level once finals starts. When he's doing that, Moses feeds off the others and that's really powerful."
All of which marks Sunday's battle between Fisher-Harris and Haas as crucial, with the big-motored Brisbane prop widely regarded as the game's No.1 forward.
"If I could bring out some popcorn and eat it on the bench, I would," Leniu said.
"It's going to be a really big challenge for those two to go at it. They're two of the in-form front-rowers in the comp right now.
"There's no doubt both teams are there because of their front-rowers, their middle pack. It's going to be a big challenge.
"We're ready for war."
12°C