Far from being a NSW State of Origin certainty, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary insists Michael Jennings’ recent form has not even been up to NRL standard.
Cleary on Thursday broke his silence on his selection shock and made no apologies for dumping his star centre to the NSW Cup.
Jennings will play for Penrith’s feeder club Windsor against the Auckland Vulcans on Saturday, leaving NSW coach Ricky Stuart to weigh up whether or not to pick a player a day later from the second-tier competition to take on the all-conquering Queensland side.
“The selections we make here aren’t based on anyone else’s team – it’s based on ours,” Cleary said.
The Penrith coach echoed Panthers general manager Phil Gould’s comments from earlier in the week that Jennings’ axing was form-related only.
“It’s on-field, absolutely,” Cleary said.
“It’s got nothing to do with off the field.”
Gould issued a statement on Tuesday to deny Jennings’ career with the club was in jeopardy following reports of an alcohol-related incident on Anzac Day.
“There’s been a couple of things in his game in the past couple of weeks that haven’t been up to scratch,” Cleary said.
“I’m sure he’ll bounce back … he knows (what to do) … there’s parts of his game that aren’t what they need to be.”
Aside from playing a starring role in the round-two victory over the Sydney Roosters when he scored a double, Jennings’ form has been underwhelming this season.
The Panthers slumped to a fifth-straight loss when they were hammered 44-10 by Melbourne on Saturday night with Jennings benched early in the second half.
Cleary appeared fed up with the centre at the post-match media conference and admitted Jennings, who has battled a shoulder injury, was fit to go back on if required.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy admitted the Storm targeted Jennings.
One glaring example of this was in the second half when Storm winger Justin O’Neill ran straight through a flimsy attempted tackle by Jennings to go 95 metres and score one of his three tries.
Following Saturday’s match, there was talk Jennings would be sidelined for up to a month with a shoulder injury, first suffered against Newcastle in round eight, but he’s trained strongly this week to allay any fears about his fitness.
Demoting Jennings, who is on a reported $600,000 per season, was a tough call to make according to Cleary.
“It’s never easy to drop any player … it’s the hardest part of being a coach but sometimes you’ve got to do it in the best interests of not only the player but the team as well,” he said.
Penrith take on St George Illawarra at Centrebet Stadium on Monday night.
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