Penrith’s push for a fourth consecutive NRL premiership has been rocked after star halfback Nathan Cleary injured his left shoulder in their 24-22 loss to fellow heavyweights Melbourne.
Cleary went down in pain following a tackle from Storm forwards Trent Loiero and Josh King while the scores were locked at 22-22 in the final 15 minutes of Thursday night’s game in Penrith.
Coach Ivan Cleary indicated his son had aggravated an injury that had been troubling him since the pre-season but there was no early indication as to the issue’s severity.
“I’m concerned,” he said.
“It was bad enough for him to come off. We’ll organise the scans tomorrow, until we get those, we’ll be in a better position to see our way forward.”
With his arm apparently in a sling, Cleary watched from the sheds as the Storm clinched victory in a seesawing affair that lived up to its billing as one of the match-ups of the season.
Nick Meaney kicked the winning penalty goal with eight minutes to play after Panthers prop James Fisher-Harris was penalised for a late hit on Jahrome Hughes.
Cleary has suffered injury blows throughout the Panthers’ title dynasty, most recently missing two months with a hamstring issue, spending time out with a right shoulder injury in 2021 and through suspension in 2022.
But navigating a finals series without Cleary would be a new and greater challenge for the Panthers, who would likely need to parachute Daine Laurie or Jack Cole into the halves to partner Jarome Luai.
Cleary was having an uncharacteristically quiet game prior to the injury but had previously been outstanding since returning from injury to help Penrith firm as premiership favourites over the past month.
Thursday’s win moves the Storm two wins clear atop the NRL ladder and almost guarantees them the minor premiership with three rounds to play.
But they could lose prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona in the run to finals after he was sin-binned for making high contact on Laurie in a shot that also knocked teammate Cameron Munster to the ground with a bloodied face.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said the result was “really pleasing” despite a slow start.
“We lost a bit of control of the game and our discipline and our defence fell off a bit. Other than that, I thought our guys were tremendous,” he said.
Even with Cleary on the field, the Panthers were far from their brilliant best, giving up a double digit lead for the third time in five games as they fell behind 10-0 early.
“I just think the tries they scored I was disappointed with every one of them,” said coach Cleary. “A try off a scrum, two on last plays where I just don’t think we were urgent enough.”
Cleary gave away the shoulder-charge penalty that put Melbourne in position to extend their lead to two tries through Eliesa Katoa and put a pass to the deck while Penrith chased their first points.
Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo had an excellent game, helping his side to their first try by putting Lindsay Smith through a hole on the right.
It was also Yeo who put the Panthers in for their first lead of the night, tearing down the left edge before Casey McLean kicked through the line to put Dylan Edwards over in the second half.
The Panthers looked primed to go on with the contest after McLean dived over only minutes after Asofa-Solmona was sin-binned, with Munster also off for a head injury assessment.
But Tyran Wishart skipped past Penrith’s Trent Toelau to level the scores with 20 minutes to play in a leaked try coach Cleary called the “worst one I’ve seen in five years”.
