Nathan Cleary: Grade three MCL knee injury to sideline Penrith Panthers halfback for 10 weeks
NSW coach Brad Fittler has declared the door for the NSW No. 7 jersey ‘wide open’ after leading candidate Nathan Cleary was ruled out for the next 10-weeks with a knee injury.
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NSW coach Brad Fittler has declared the door for the NSW No. 7 jersey “wide open” after leading candidate Nathan Cleary was ruled out for the next 10-weeks with a knee injury.
A devastated Cleary received the shock news following scans yesterday that he had suffered a grade three MCL knee injury in Penrith’s loss to Canterbury on Friday night.
The injury has all but crushed the 20-year-old’s hopes of making his State of Origin debut in game one given Fittler will announce his Blues team for Origin I on May 28 — nine weeks from tomorrow.
The Sunday Telegraph broke the news of Cleary’s injury which he suffered following a routine clearing kick to Fittler yesterday.
“Oh — that’s disappointing for Nathan,’’ Fittler said.
“I saw it happen and it’s just one of those unlucky things that happens in footy.
“It’s a shame because he was doing really well.
“Injuries are going to happen and when you look back at Laurie’s (Daley) tenure, he had some injuries to work through also.
“The door is open (for other players). He (Cleary) had his foot in the door, but that’s footy.’’
Without singling out any one individual, Fittler said NSW were still flush with plenty of halves options including Mitchell Pearce, Mitchell Moses, James Maloney, Luke Brooks and Luke Keary.
“The best piece of advice Gus (Phil Gould) told me in January was to not pick my team too early,’’ Fittler said.
“This shows why.’’
Dealing with a more immediate concern is Penrith coach Anthony Griffin, who is suddenly struck by an injury crisis at the foot of the Mountains.
On top of Cleary, Griffin has Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (broken jaw), Sam McKendry (knee), Tim Browne (ruptured bowel) and Tyrone Phillips (pectoral) on the sidelines for extended periods.
Peter Wallace would be the firm favourite to replace Cleary and partner James Maloney in the halves for the Panthers’ trip to Townsville to tackle the Cowboys on Thursday night.
Bench hooker Siona Katoa is capable of deputising at dummy half should Wallace move to halves.
However, Griffin may use Cleary’s injury to test the talent of explosive half Jarome Luai or last year’s exciting under-20s player of the year, hooker Wayde Egan.
“The coach has plenty of options,’’ Penrith CEO Bryan Fletcher said.
“Ten days ago we didn’t have a problem in the world, now we’ve lost four first graders in a week.
“I feel for Nathan. It’s such a tough game, but we’re lucky we’ve got the talent and the depth to push forward during his recovery.’’