Penrith have made the left-field call to hand Trent Toelau the No.7 jersey against South Sydney, leaving Blaize Talagi on the bench after Nathan Cleary's concussion.

The Panthers named a new-look spine on Tuesday, with Daine Laurie a chance to overcome a quad injury in place of the sidelined Dylan Edwards.

After Cleary was concussed in the opening minutes of last week's loss to Melbourne, coach Ivan Cleary lamented he was left with two five-eighths on the field.

And while Talagi was expected to partner Jack Cole this week in Cleary's absence, Penrith have instead handed that job to Toelau for Thursday night.

"We've got a lot of time for Blaize," Cleary said.

"He wouldn't be here if we didn't see a lot of future in him. He's certainly got that NRL quality about him, but there's still a long way to go as well."

Toelau has never started before in the NRL, with his previous 12 games coming off the bench.

But he impressed in pre-season trials, including playing a starring role in an unlikely win over Manly while Penrith's top squad were already in Las Vegas.

Talagi and Cole had helped the Panthers put 24 points on the Storm last week without Nathan Cleary, with only goal-kicking the difference in the loss.

"It wasn't the ideal situation but sometimes when you just get thrown in, you've just got to adapt as best you can," Cleary said.

"I thought Coley in particular, where he had to step up and take the main playmaking role there, did a really good job in difficult circumstances."

Laurie's return means Tom Jenkins will play centre and Paul Alamoti wing, with Casey McLean dropped back to 18th man.

Scott Bailey - AAP