Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary’s shoulder injury may recover in time to play in the finals

The crowd at Penrith fell silent on Thursday night when Nathan Cleary injured his shoulder but the scan results have provided a positive outlook.

Nathan Cleary shows his frustration after injuring his shoulder. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary could be back for the NRL finals after scans on the shoulder injury suffered in Thursday night’s loss to the Storm confirmed he didn’t need surgery.

His father and coach, Ivan, said he was “concerned” in the immediate aftermath but the club confirmed the more positive news on Friday morning.

“Scans today confirmed that Nathan experienced a recurrence of the shoulder instability he had earlier in the year,” the club said in statement.

“The scans indicate that he has avoided immediate surgery. The positive outcome is that the club plans to have Nathan available for the NRL finals.”

INJURY UPDATE. Scans have revealed the extent of Nathan Cleary’s shoulder injury.

📝 https://t.co/SySyyw5DzZ#pantherpride 🐾 pic.twitter.com/RzSr2Zrn8n

— Penrith Panthers 🏆🏆🏆 (@PenrithPanthers) August 16, 2024

It was an innocuous-looking tackle that Cleary went to ground in, and coach Ivan confirmed Nathan had had some pre-season issues with the shoulder and was concerned given he left the field.

“I’m not sure, but I’m concerned because it was bad enough for him to come off,” Ivan said.

“We’ll organise the scans tomorrow (Friday) and until we get those, we’ll be in a better position to move our way forward.”

The coach revealed his son had used his lengthy stint on the sidelines with a hamstring injury to also work on his shoulder.

His latest injury won’t keep him out for that long, but it could be enough to end Penrith’s tilt at a four-straight title.

“He hurt it in the pre-season and had some trouble with it at the start of the year and with the hamstring injury he got on top of it and it’s a reccurrence of it tonight,” Cleary said.

“He’s in better shape than what he was when he did his hammy. What do you do? It’s just one of those years I think.”

A sight no Panthers fan wants to see. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Entering Thursday’s top-of-the-table clash against the Storm, the Panthers were as short as $2.60 to win the premiership.

Betting markets were suspended after the Storm’s 24-22 win.

But Penrith won seven of 11 games without Cleary this season and his co-captain Isaah Yeo was adamant that experience will give them confidence to cope with the halfback’s latest injury.

“We’ve been playing games without Nathan for big chunks of the year because of his hammy,” Yeo said.

“That should give us confidence that we know we can do it. Obviously, we’ll have to change a little bit but I thought ‘Romey’ (Luai) over that period of time has been really good for us.

“It just means there’s going to have to be individuals who step up, but it certainly hasn’t been new this season.”