James Maloney injury rocks Panthers on eve of NRL finals
PENRITH have suffered a massive blow just three weeks out from the NRL finals with star five-eighth James Maloney ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
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PENRITH have suffered a massive blow just three weeks out from the NRL finals with veteran five-eighth James Maloney ruled out for the rest of the regular season with a knee injury.
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Having clawed their way into the top four with three consecutive come-from-behind victories, the Panthers must now continue their charge towards September without their chief playmaker.
Following Anthony Griffin’s sacking last week, the timing of Maloney’s grade two medial ligament injury couldn’t be worse for rookie coach Cameron Ciraldo.
Confirmation of a grade 2 MCL sprain for James Maloney, matching initial thoughts. Usually 3-6 weeks recovery required, would be eyeing off a return for finals. Quite a performance to play on for a half with the injury
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 13, 2018
James Maloney confirmed as Grade 2 Medial ligament injury. Brave to stay on the field for half a game on the weekend. Hopefully back for the semi finals.
— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) August 13, 2018
Grade 2 medial for James Maloney. Panthers are hopeful he’ll be back for Finals. Bitter sweet news because he needed a rest
— Nathan Taylor (@NateTaylor87) August 13, 2018
The pressure is now on young half Nathan Cleary to lead the Panthers to a top-four finish, after they got out of jail in last Saturday’s 17-16 win against the Gold Coast Titans.
The club’s official line is that he will be out indefinitely but Gus Gould said the five-eighth is expected to be back for the finals.
“James Maloney confirmed as Grade 2 medial ligament injury. Brave to stay on the field for half a game on the weekend. Hopefully back for the semi finals,” Gould tweeted.
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The news comes on the back of a tumultuous seven days for the Panthers after coach Anthony Griffin was sacked last Monday.
Cleary admitted last week had been a “whirlwind” and that he “could barely sleep” after revelations the Panthers were trying to poach his father, Tigers coach Ivan Cleary.
Maloney’s untimely injury puts the young gun Cleary firmly back into the spotlight as the man charged with leading the Panthers into the finals with Maloney missing.
Roosters forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will be out of action for at least four weeks with broken ribs.
He sustained the injury in a tackle against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday night.
St George Illawarra’s form slump has been compounded with the news five-eighth Gareth Widdop will be sidelined indefinitely.
He suffered a desolated shoulder in the Dragons’ 40-4 loss to the last placed Parramatta Eels on Saturday night.
It was initially feared Widopp’s season could be over but initial scans have indicated the Red V skipper will not need surgery.
In a statement, the club said his return would depend on his “rate of progress through the early stages of rehab”.
Winger Jason Nightingale is also expected to miss this week’s crucial clash against the Tigers.
At Redfern, South Sydney flyer Alex Johnston could miss up to two weeks of football after he twinged a hamstring against the Roosters.
Rabbitohs head of high performance Paul Devlin said scan results weren’t as bad as initially feared.
“He felt some tightness in that hamstring and didn’t feel comfortable at all. We’ve scanned it, the scans showed very little … but it’s a case of not taking any chances with a player like him. We don’t expect him to miss many games at all,” he said.
Fullback Greg Inglis, who is recovering from a broken thumb, is still a week to week proposition but will return to full training this morning.
Storm stalwart Ryan Hoffman looks to have played his final game of NRL after suffering a serious hamstring injury against Cronulla.
The 324-game veteran was said to be distraught following the match and left AAMI Park on crutches.