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Nathan Cleary is out for the next six weeks, ruling him out of the rest of NSW’s State of Origin campaign after he limped off in the early stages of Penrith’s scrappy 26-18 win over St George Illawarra on Sunday night.
The star halfback clutched at his left hamstring after pulling up while trying to make a cover tackle in the 16th minute and was taken to the sheds straight away for treatment.
He is not only out of game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21 but the series finale in Sydney next month as the Blues they try to bounce back following Queensland’s 26-16 triumph in Adelaide on Wednesday night.
“We’re going to be without him for a while”, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said. “I’m not a doctor but it’s a significant injury. We’ll get scans tomorrow and we’ll know more. I think he’d be very unlikely.”
And those scans reveled a tear that will sideline him for six weeks in a bitter blow to the Blues and Penrith’s mid-season chances.
Nathan Cleary clutches at his hamstring. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Blues chief advisor Greg Alexander said straight after it happened that it did not appear to be a minor injury. “You could tell that he was in trouble immediately,” he said on Fox League.
“You could see by the look on his face that he knows it’s more than just a twinge. He tried to take off and then you could see him hobbling back into place. When it was tested he was immediately off the field.
“To force him off and be so noticeably bad there’s got to be some serious issues there.
“It’s tough to speculate on the seriousness of it before he’s got scans. But looking at those images, I guess everyone at Penrith is trying to be as positive as possible and hoping it’s low-grade. I’m hoping (for) the same thing.”
He was shown in the sheds limping around in obvious discomfort after taking off his playing gear and had his leg heavily wrapped as he watched the rest of the match from the bench.
Cleary was heavily criticised for his performance in game one for the Blues after the team collapsed in the final 10 minutes to concede two tries.
They need to win the remaining two matches to ensure Queensland don’t retain the shield for a second straight year.
Sharks star Nicho Hynes, who was a bench utility in Origin I, is likely to start at half for the Brisbane clash.
“He’s been in tremendous form for the Sharks,” said former Maroons half Cooper Cronk on Fox League, who also nominated Brisbane veteran Adam Reynolds and Eels playmaker Mitchell Moses as candidates.
Panthers winger Brian To’o said Hynes was ready after making his Blues debut last week off the bench.
“Nicho is definitely someone who takes a lot of pride in playing footy and he can live up to the jersey and do his job for the team,” the NSW speedster said.
Nicho Hynes was 18th man for the Blues in 2022. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Cleary looked angry as he walked off midway through the first half – the match was poised at 6-6 at that stage after Mikaele Ravalawa scored for the Dragons to cancel out an early touchdown to Brian To’o.
The opposing wingers again touched down later in the first half – To’o latching onto a cross kick from Jack Cogger, who came off the bench to make his Panthers debut by replacing Cleary at half.
There was another heart-in-mouth moment for the Blues when Penrith’s NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai rolled his ankle but he was able to play on.
From 12-12 at half-time, the match remained deadlocked when touch judge Wyatt Raymond controversially flagged for a knock-on by Dragons winger Mat Feagai which referee Chris Sutton had signalled play on.
On the next set, Sunia Turuva touched down for the Panthers.
“I saw the referee call ‘Gone backwards’ three times; he makes the call and then it gets changed,” said interim Dragons coach Ryan Carr.
“It’s a huge moment and they score off that set, but we couldn’t challenge it because it was too late.”
Play was held up for several minutes after Dragons forward Jack de Belin was knocked out after trying to make a tackle on Panthers prop Lindsay Smith.
He returned to the bench by full-time and looked to be in good spirits despite the heavy blow.
St George Illawarra centre Zac Lomax soared high to again square the ledger 15 minutes from full-time but Kiwi prop Moses Leota was the unlikely scorer of the match-winning try in the 70th minute.
The Dragons looked like they equalised late in the contest when Tyrell Sloan stepped his way past a few Panthers to score under the posts but Ben Murdoch-Masila was pinged for an obstruction after the veteran forward stopped in the defensive line.
A late penalty goal calmed Penrith’s nerves and sealed an eight-point win to retain a share of top spot with Brisbane.
with AAP
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