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For Micheal Jennings 2010 has been a year to forget. The jet-heeled 22-year-old’s involvement in Saturday’s 34-12 NRL semi-final defeat to the Sydney Roosters lasted just nine minutes.
And he cut a disconsolate figure as he trudged halfway around the Sydney Football Stadium and disappeared down the tunnel with an ankle injury.
Jennings, sustained the problem in the fourth minute when Nate Myles landed on the back of his leg as the NSW centre tried to get up from a play-the-ball.
And although he bravely tried to play on, the Test representative was in obvious discomfort and had to limp off.
The situation compounded a difficult season for Jennings in a year that he was being tipped as the long-term replacement for the AFL-bound Israel Folau in the Kangaroos team.
However, instead of facing New Zealand in the Anzac Test in Melbourne, a stunned Jennings found himself playing on the wing for the first time in four years for the City Origin side in Port Macquarie.
And a month later he found himself on the outer with the Blues as he was overlooked for the opening two State of Origin matches, before being recalled for the final dead rubber in Sydney.
Jennings has also had to battle with a knee problem earlier in the season that appeared to have robbed some of his blistering pace as well as undergoing regular cortisone injections on an AC shoulder joint to get him through matches.
If the loss of Jennings so early in the game wasn’t a big enough blow for the Panthers, Luke Lewis was sent into cloud cockoo land after he smashed his head into Anthony Minichiello’s knee and was helped off the pitch having no idea who are where he was.
Second-rower Gavin Cooper then became the third Panthers player to head down the race, with a corked thigh to make their task an almost impossible one, with Frank Pritchard and Trent Waterhouse already missing the game through injury.
Lewis did return midway through the second-half and and was promptly lifted out of bounds and onto his head by a swarm of Roosters players.
The defeat leaves Penrith, who finished the season in second spot on the ladder, without a finals win since 2004 and coach Matthew Elliott still searching for his first ever victory in seven attempts.
One consolation for Jennings this summer is that he will at least be able to enjoy spending some of the cash from the lucrative five-year deal he signed with the club two months ago – and know in 2011 things can only get better.
“It felt like one of those nights,” Panthers captain Petero Civoniceva said of the injury toll.
“It obviously effects the cohesion of the team.”
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