Canberra Raiders down Penrith Panthers but lose star Blake Austin to injury

A DOUBLE injury blow to Canberra’s $1 million halves pairing Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer took the gloss off a hard-fought 30-22 win over Penrith in furnace-like conditions..

Star halves cooked, Raiders scorch Panthers

A DOUBLE injury blow to Canberra’s $1 million halves pairing Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer took the gloss off a hard-fought 30-22 win over Penrith in furnace-like conditions.

While Austin hobbled off the ground early in the second half with suspected medial ligament damage to his right knee, there were concerns afterwards that two-try hero and Raiders’ star new recruit Sezer had broken his cheekbone or eye socket.

Sezer could barely see out of his left eye but somehow remained on the field the entire game, which would have won him immediate respect from the 11,297 fans who braved the 35 degree heat.

Penrith didn’t escape the injury front either with concerns hooker James Segeyaro had broken his right arm.

After two straight seasons of bulging casualty wards, the Panthers’ would have dreaded the sight of Segeyaro leaving GIO Stadium in a sling.

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A dejected Segeyaro, who was playing his 100th NRL game, told The Sunday Telegraph: “My forearm clipped Kurt Baptiste’s elbow or knee, and it didn’t feel too good.

“Hopefully it’s only a knock.

“It’s disappointing it’s happened in round one because I had trained well all off-season. But if it is broken, it’s better it’s happened now rather than the middle of the season.’’

The Panthers had every chance to win this one, and despite struggling to complete sets for the bulk of the second half, still found themselves with a chance to win it with 90 seconds on the clock.

Coach Anthony Griffin described the second half effort as “dumb’’.

“We beat ourselves in the end,’’ Griffin said.

“It was a really good physical effort by us, but it was a pretty dumb second half.

“I thought we were going into the break on top, and we came out and found the first try. But from then on, we hardly completed a string of possessions. At one stage we were six from 14, and it’s hard to win at this level with that completion.

Blake Austin goes down against Penrith.

“There was a little bit of impatience and trying to play too ad lib rather than driving forward and getting the job done.’’

Driving forward and getting the job done worked so well for Canterbury on Friday night, who meet the Panthers at the foot of the mountains on Thursday.

While Griffin will chase his first victory at Penrith, Stuart looked exhausted after he claimed his.

He dropped to his haunches as Shaun Fensom turned a nervous four-point lead into an eight-point triumph on the buzzer. Stuart later said he was simply knackered.

While happy for the two points, seeing his chief playmakers on crutches and unable to see afterwards was not a comforting sight.

“To have two class players sitting on the sidelines won’t be the way we want to start the year,’’ Stuart told The Sunday Telegraph.

“We’ll see how long Blake is out for, and fingers crossed Aidan’s eye isn’t as bad as it looks. It could be a broken cheekbone or eye socket.

“He had to stay on in the end (after Austin’s early exit). And that for me was better than setting up three tries or scoring two - him staying on under those conditions ... he couldn’t see out of his eye.’’

Sezer was the big off-season signing from the Gold Coast, and he looked right at home in the No. 7 jumper, while Austin was always dangerous in attack before he went down.

For the Panthers, their attack spluttered, and it was only when Bryce Cartwright got involved they caused the Raiders’ most headaches.

CANBERRA 30 (A Sezer 2 B Austin S Fensom E Lee tries J Croker 5 goals) beat PENRITH 22 (P Hiku J Mansour T Merrin tries J Soward 5 goals) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, David Munro.

Originally published as Canberra Raiders down Penrith Panthers but lose star Blake Austin to injury