Cole was a surprise selection at No.6 for the round-one clash against Cronulla, picked ahead of Talagi as the prized recruit nears full fitness following shoulder surgery.
After only ever previously being picked to start when Nathan Cleary or Jarome Luai was unavailable, Cole held his own in his first game as a first-choice half - and only his 11th in total.
At fulltime in Penrith's 28-22 win, coach Cleary said he was willing to be patient with Cole, who is under the spotlight as replacement for four-time premiership-winning five-eighth Luai.
"He's just the sort of kid that needs to play in these types of games to build his confidence and his role in the team," Cleary said.
"It's not easy for him for everyone to keep talking about who he's replacing.
"It's a little bit like Luke Garner when he first came to our club and replaced 'Kiks' (Viliame Kikau) and also Mitch Kenny when he replaced Api (Koroisau).'"
"That took a while because everyone just keeps talking about it."
Cole's edge was under siege from the Sharks all night, given the Panthers lost first-choice winger Casey McLean to a head knock early on and also had Garner defending out of position at centre.
"They were obviously targeting him," Cleary said.
"I thought they (Cole's edge) did a really good job on the run, fixing up a few things that we needed to fix. It's good experience for him.
"I thought he did a good job, he didn't overplay his hand."
Coach Cleary indicated ahead of game day there would be a place for Talagi in the Panthers' 17 once his shoulder was not at risk and he had a complete understanding of Penrith's systems.
But Nathan Cleary expected Cole would be his halves partner when Penrith hosted the Sydney Roosters for their first game at their adoptive home ground CommBank Stadium in round two.
"I think it's hard to not have him there after tonight's performance," the halfback said.
"He definitely didn't do himself any harm with how he went ... and I think he's only going to get better."
Cole, 21, admitted he became nervous running out under the bright lights of Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium on Sunday (AEDT).
But hearing Nathan Cleary's words of support have given him a lift at fulltime as he looks to cement his spot in the halves.
"I'm still learning how to deal with my nerves well," he said.
"That's round one, it's obviously not a perfect performance but I think there's a lot of good lessons out of that game. At the end of the day that's where I want to be every week so hearing that (from Nathan) is reassuring.
"The more games I play and the more minutes I get, I'll be more conditioned to it as well and get a lot more confidence that will come with that."
When it comes to replacing Wests Tigers recruit Luai, Cole is keeping cool.
"There's a lot of noise going on in the background about that. Jarome's a big hole, obviously," he said.
"I'm not trying to be what Jarome was. I like watching him play and like trying to pick little bits of his game out and try put them into mine.
"I'm not really reading into what everyone else is saying, I'm just focusing on my own game and going from there."
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