The Panthers will be without Nathan Cleary for another week after his coach confirmed that the representative halfback would need a little bit more time to recover from the hamstring injury which has kept him out since round three.
The superstar playmaker suffered the injury late in the grand final rematch against Brisbane, with Cleary producing his best half of footy before he got hurt.
He’s no stranger to hamstring injuries having suffered one last year, but coach Ivan Cleary is confident his son will return next week against the Cowboys and is adamant Nathan didn’t suffer a setback during his recovery.
There is better news with Jarome Luai and Scott Sorensen to play against the Wests Tigers on Saturday, but Cleary won’t play as the Panthers seek revenge for last year’s shock loss in the wet.
“He’s going well, but he probably just had a little bit more awareness at the start than we thought based on the scans so we just moved it out a bit to change the plan,” Cleary said.
“We’re still pretty hopeful (that he’ll be back) next week. He probably could have played this week, but it’s until he does more training and that sort of stuff.
“He had more awareness (in the hamstring) than we thought he would, so you’ve got to respect that.
“He’s been doing heaps (of running), but now he needs to gravitate back to team stuff, which he has been doing. Until he can do the whole thing for a week, we won’t play him.”
Penrith got the job done against the Roosters without Cleary but were outplayed by the Sea Eagles in Daly Cherry-Evans’ milestone match, with the defending premiers keen to bounce back after a timely bye.
One man who doesn’t have to change a thing is fullback Dylan Edwards who is again in the mix to make his State of Origin debut having played three Tests on the wing for Australia in 2023.
It’s going to be hard to replace NSW skipper James Tedesco, with the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell, Scott Drinkwater and Ryan Papenhuyzen also in the conversation for the fullback spot.
But none of them are close to the 220 metres the 2022 Clive Churchill Medal winner averages per game this season, with Edwards establishing himself as one of the most important players in Penrith’s premiership cog.
“He’s a current Australia player, just not at fullback,” Cleary said.
“Dyl suits Origin. Not everyone does, but he does, and he wouldn’t let anyone down.
“He’s playing great footy, but all he can do is keep his head down which he always does, and we’ll see what happens after that.”