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St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin will face Penrith for the first time on Friday night, three years after he was sensationally sacked by the NRL club.

Anthony Griffin claims he never feared for his NRL coaching career after being sacked by Penrith in 2018 as he prepares to face his ex-club for the first time on Friday night.

It's been just over three years since Griffin was sensationally axed by the Panthers a month out from the finals amid claims he had lost the dressing room and his coaching philosophies were too old school.

This is his first season back under the hood of an NRL team, but the St George Illawarra coach says he never gave up the belief he could get another gig.

"Coaching is a brutal business and only so many jobs to go around so you've got to be a little bit patient," he said ahead of Friday's showdown.

"As I said at the time, when you're coaching it is a brutal business but the most important thing is you believe in yourself.

"I was always confident as long as I wanted to keep coaching and that was the most important thing, there'd be a time I'd get another opportunity."

The sudden and unexpected call to sack Griffin sent shockwaves through the NRL at the time and left the veteran coach reeling.

However, he says the situation changed him.

"I'm better for the resilience of the whole situation," he said.

"Whether you're a coach or a parent or a carpenter or a school teacher, there's times in your life where at the time things don't go the way you want them to, but when you look back with a clearer head down the track you realise those periods made you more resilient and a better person, a better coach or a better leader.

"That's how I look at things."

Friday's game will be his first chance at an up close look at the players he helped develop while at the Panthers.

Dylan Edwards, Jarome Luai, Moses Leota, Viliame Kikau and Nathan Cleary were all handed their NRL debuts by Griffin.

And while he's hesitant to call it pride, Griffin says one of the best things about coaching is watching young players succeed in their careers.

"I did my job when I was there, I made a contribution to the club as did a lot of people," he said.

"Ivan was there before I got there and now he's done a great job with them over the last couple of years.

"It's one of the great things in coaching to be able to give young guys a debut in the NRL, so there's a fair few of those guys that I was fortunate enough to be there and have an involvement with at that stage of their career.

"It's nice to see how far they've gone with their careers and how well they're playing now."