Ryan Papenhuyzen declares himself ready to return in Melbourne Storm’s semi-final against Cronulla

Melbourne Storm won its final home-and-away game by 38 points without the superstar fullback who will be ready to go for the finals.

Ryan Papenhuyzen and Cameron McInnes will square off in week 1 of the NRL finals. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Storm fans usually go numb when they hear the word “fracture” and Ryan Papenhuyzen in the same sentence.

But the superstar fullback insists he’s all good to go for Saturday’s semi-final showdown with Cronulla despite missing their final home-and-away romp against the Brisbane Broncos with yet another lower leg injury.

Papenhuyzen was one of the few regulars named to face the Cowboys in round 26, but his night lasted just 14 minutes before he hobbled off and sent a massive scare around the league given what he’s been through.

Scans showed some bone bruising and he was left out of the squad for last week’s win in Brisbane, but he’ll return for Friday’s game against the Sharks with their other livewire fullback, Sua Fa’alogo, dealing with a hamstring injury.

Papenhuyzen was due some luck on the back of several serious leg injuries that have restricted him to just 47 games since he won the Clive Churchill Medal in 2020.

“How it was described to me was a lot of micro fractures,” he said at the NRL finals launch when explaining his latest setback.

“You get hit really hard and don’t break anything, but it creates a couple of fractures around it.

Ryan Papenhuyzen has declared himself ready for the opening weekend. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“You just feel really restricted, so I think that’s why I came off against the Cowboys because it’s the leg that I’ve had everything else happen to and I was hobbling on that.

“If I did that for the rest of the 80 minutes then it probably wouldn’t have been a great result. There’s been a lot of icing, a lot of movement and a lot of work in the pool.

“It’s a difficult one because it’s not a massive injury but it’s one that you need to stay on top of.

“I had a little run the other day and felt sweet. We’ll get more of a gauge on it (on Wednesday), but I’m confident, the medical staff seem confident, so I should be sweet.”

Papenhuyzen’s return means the Storm will have its first-choice spine on the park on Saturday, something they’ve struggled to do this year, with Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster both dealing with major injuries.

But the crew is back together with Jahrome Hughes pulling the strings at halfback and the raging favourite to claim his first Dally M Medal after a brilliant regular season where only Ben Hunt and Scott Drinkwater had more try assists.

Hughes is still fairly new to the role having made the permanent switch from fullback to the halves in round 23 of the 2019 season that allowed Papenhuyzen to go from a bench utility to one of the best fullbacks in the world.

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Hughes’s control of games has gone to another level this year, with the rest of the spine taking a back seat in recent weeks.

“He won a premiership in 2020 as a halfback but I think people forget that,” Papenhuyzen said.

“I think those years after that sort of having disappointing years or results, that wanted to make him get better.

“It probably took two or three years to get to where he is now, but now we’re seeing those rewards. He’s worked hard for those five years and has put himself in a position where he’s probably going to win the Dally M.

“I know he’s very humble about it, so he didn’t care about missing the Cowboys game because he just wanted to do what’s best for the team.

“It’s a difficult role to take over a team and control, but he’s done that this year and we’ve just hopped on the back of his coat-tails.”