Penrith’s Origin foursome leave Melbourne and straight into recovery to face the Raiders on Friday night
BY the time they got through their recovery and media commitments, Penrith’s Origin foursome didn’t leave the MCG until after midnight. But they’ll be back up for the Panthers on Friday night.
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IT’S the recovery process that will help Penrith’s Origin stars go from the MCG to Friday night’s game against the Raiders at Canberra Stadium in less than 48 hours.
Only minutes after playing in a bruising Origin I encounter on Wednesday night, Panthers players James Maloney, Nathan Cleary, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Tyrone Peachey dived straight into stretching and ice baths to loosen their batted muscles.
By the time they got through their recovery and media commitments, the Penrith foursome didn’t leave the MCG until after midnight.
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The players then boarded an early morning flight to Canberra on Thursday, where they met with a club official to conduct a recovery session that involved swimming and more stretching.
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin expects Maloney, Cleary, Campbell-Gillard and Peachey to put aside their bumps and back up.
Griffin believes backing up is all part of being a respected representative player.
“If you want to be an Origin player, the important thing is you can get your club stuff done as well,” Griffin said.
“They’re pretty proud these days, players. We don’t ever want to put them in a position where they risk injury but if they’re fit to play and want to play, it’s important that they do.”
Griffin understands the details involved in managing players’ workloads.
During his time as Brisbane coach from 2011-14, he had to juggle a large number of Broncos players backing up post Origin.
This included Darren Lockyer’s final Origin series for Queensland in 2011, when he rested him for two club games at the Broncos.
Griffin believes it’s a balancing act managing player workloads with personal pride.
It’s why he is open to resting Penrith’s Origin players if their tired bodies dictate rest.
“Obviously we make a decision there whether that’s in their best interests from game to game,” he said.
“From drawing a line [to] Cameron Smith, that was one of the main reasons he retired, he felt he couldn’t back up for his club.
“I know with my experience with the guys in Brisbane — we used to play a lot of Friday nights — they found it a lot easier to play Friday night than if we had a Sunday game.”
Griffin praised the performances of all his Origin players, but he was particularly impressed with Cleary’s toughness on debut.
“Nathan’s defence was a real highlight for me,” he said.
“I thought he exceeded all expectations the way he handled that. He ran the ball when he needed to.
“His kicking game was good, he was error free. You couldn’t have hoped for a better debut.”
Griffin was also impressed with Maloney’s composure and class in the big moments.
“I thought he just controlled that game beautifully,” he said.
“The longer it went, the more impact he had on it. “To have that experienced head there; it was a major factor in NSW’s victory.”