Premiership-winning five-eight Ben Ikin has questioned Penrith’s decision to hand Matt Moylan the captaincy ahead of veterans like Peter Wallace.

In a slightly surprising move, new Panthers coach Anthony Griffin handed Moylan the leadership role despite coming back from an injury-plagued 2015.

Whispers get stronger that Moylan will also be named in the halves for their season opener against the Canberra Raiders. Moylan played some five-eight in Penrith’s trial victory on the weekend against Canterbury.

“There’s a lot of pressure being the captain of an NRL club, which made the appointment of Matt Moylan an interesting one” Ikin wrote for foxsports.com.au.

“This young man has all the talent and time to be one of the greats, but we’ll find out this year if he’s been handed too much responsibility too soon.”

Moylan is in a tussle for a starting halves role with Jamie Soward, Martin Te Maire and Wallace.