NRL grand final mail: NRL Physio says Nathan Cleary’s shoulder a ‘ticking time bomb’

All eyes were on Nathan Cleary at an open training session and fan day in front of around 2,000 Panthers’ faithful, and the halfback came through it with flying colours after suffering an injury scare in the preliminary final.

Penrith Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary clutches at his shoulder. Picture: NRL Images

Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary got through Tuesday’s training unscathed after an injury scare in last weekend’s preliminary final win.

All eyes were on Cleary at a Tuesday open training session and fan day in front of around 2,000 Panthers’ faithful.

Cleary had was left clutching at his right shoulder, appearing to aggravate the “instability” injury, in the final minutes of Saturday’s win over Cronulla in a moment that left fans fearing the worst for Penrith’s fourth straight title hopes.

Cleary insisted a the shoulder injury would not leave him in doubt for Sunday’s grand final against Melbourne.

He further allayed any fears on Tuesday getting through a light training session that had minimal contact.

But Cleary had no issues getting through a number of dummy half wrestling drill with no issues.

However backrower Scott Sorensen trained and ran separately than the rest of the playing group.

Sorensen is racing the clock to overcome a hamstring injury.

Fullback Dylan Edwards also ran separately at the beginning of the session but joined the rest of the group.

Cleary’s shoulder a ‘ticking time bomb’

In a pre-grand final diagnosis sure to rattle Penrith, NRL Physio Brien Seeney has described Nathan Cleary’s injured shoulder as a “ticking time bomb.”

Cleary aggravated his left shoulder during Saturday night’s preliminary final win over Cronulla with NRL Physio and injury analyst Seeney, who has 52,000 social media followers, saying: “It could pop out in one tackle and his game is over.”

The star halfback will undergo a shoulder reconstruction post-grand final and miss the looming Pacific Championships.

Cleary immediately grabbed his shoulder after a covering tackle on Cronulla centre Kayal Iro.

The lead-up to Sunday’s grand final against Melbourne will be dominated around whether Cleary – who is certain to be selected - can survive the brutality of a grand final and the desire for Melbourne to test his injured shoulder.

“His shoulder is a ticking time bomb – it could pop out in one tackle and his game is over,” admitted Seeney. “The real risk is re-injury.

Penrith Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary clutches at his shoulder. Picture: NRL Images

“He will play but Penrith will have to carry Brad Schneider on the bench because Nathan could get out there and five minutes into the game get caught in a bad position, the shoulder pops out and he’s gone for the game.

“That’s the risk that they run but we know it’s Nathan Cleary so it’s worth the risk. It can come down to luck.

“That shoulder, inherently, is not as stable as an uninjured shoulder so it is more susceptible to popping out or subluxing again. Penrith will want to minimise that happening at training and they will cross their fingers and toes.

“The club will work on falling and tackling techniques to try and restrict him landing on the arm away from his body – that is a risky position.”

Nathan Cleary clutches at shoulder

Cleary was quick to ease fears over his shoulder after the Sharks game - even raising his arm in front of the media - but the club will continue emphasising safeguard techniques to protect the shoulder in the grand final.

“Nathan made a desperate tackle against Cronulla, didn’t have control over his body and landed on his outstretched arm,” Seeney said. “That falling, tackling technique is probably the most important part of training and preparation.

“It could very well have popped out. He has subluxed his shoulder multiple times, which is a partial dislocation of the shoulder. So when that happens, you get damage to the cartilage, or the labrum.

“It is going to require shoulder reconstruction surgery after the grand final. That gives you an idea of what he is playing with.

“The challenge for Nathan is that he has subluxed it recently about six weeks ago and then he obviously aggravated it on Saturday night. We all saw that it was aggravated.

“That means it will pull up sore once the adrenaline wears off. He will have soreness over the next couple of days and Penrith is going to have to manage that. Nathan has been on limited training over the past six weeks so they will continue limiting his contact exposure.

“Penrith will spend the week settling down his symptoms and then try to get some strength into the shoulder between now and next weekend to minimise the risk of it popping out again.

“It’s an injury players do play through, depending on the circumstances, like Jake Trbojevic and Kalyn Ponga. Nathan has done it before – he did in 2021 to his other shoulder. He played through that and they won the grand final before he had surgery.”

Nathan Cleary (L) was given an early spell. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Cleary played on after the injury but was replaced by Brad Schneider with six minutes remaining against Cronulla

After the Sharks game, Cleary said: “It’s all good... just a little knock at the end but (I) ended up playing out the next two sets and it felt fine.”

Premiership-winning halfback Cooper Cronk told Fox League: “With a shoulder injury like that, whenever it is extended like that on the outside of the body, is when it can pop back out.

“The fact that he had to do a reaching tackle and reached out and extended.”

Originally published as NRL grand final mail: NRL Physio says Nathan Cleary’s shoulder a ‘ticking time bomb’