Key posts
Poll: Who do you fancy? Warriors or Panthers?
Joey: Why 30,000 kicks in 12 years are breaking Cleary’s body
A couple of years ago, all but one member of the NSW Blues squad sat on the team bus outside Perth’s Optus Stadium after training, waiting to return to the team hotel.
The one player yet to board: Nathan Cleary.
Is Nathan Cleary’s approach to training doing more harm than good?Credit: Getty
Back inside the stadium, he was walking around the ground and trying to visualise all the angles of a rectangular rugby league field on an oval stadium. It can be trickier than you think. He was assessing the wind and how it liked to swirl. He would practise some general play kicks and then work on his goalkicking. He kept going through every last detail, over and over again.
After about an hour on the bus, the message came through that we had better leave. He still wasn’t ready to finish training.
The moral of the story? Nathan’s greatest asset, which has made him the game’s best player, is also making him one of the most susceptible to injury.
His work ethic is absolutely relentless and the reason why he could be on a path to being a future Immortal.
But after a while, there’s only so much your body can take. The stories of him being out on the field longer than all of his Penrith teammates – most often kicking – are legendary. Yet, it might be time for a rethink.
I would estimate from the age of about 13, Cleary would have been practising almost every day. So, let’s say for the past 12 or 13 years, he’s kicked probably 500 balls a week. That’s around 300,000 kicks all told.
Can you imagine the imbalance he might have from one side of his body to the other?
It was around his age, 26, that I started having my own problems. It comes from an accumulation of all the work you do and the overtraining. Brad Fittler started having problems with his groin at a similar age, and you can see even Cameron Munster is going through a tricky period in his career right now.
Where Nathan has had his advantage for so long might also be part of the problem.
Read Andrew Johns’ full column here.
Poll: Who do you fancy? Warriors or Panthers?
Late Mail: Big blows for Warriors and Panthers
Massive blow for the Kiwi side, with Tohu Harris out due to a hand injury and Dylan Walker replacing him at lock. Paul Roache comes onto the bench.
Taylan May is also stood down after being served domestic violence charges yesterday. Paul Alamoti replaces him out wide for Penrith. Tyrone Peachey also comes onto the bench for Daine Laurie, while Scott Sorrenson is also back from injury, replacing Mavrik Geyer. Moses Leota also drops back to the pine for Lindsay Smith to start.
Warriors:1. Taine Tuaupiki 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Ali Leiataua 4. Adam Pompey 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 7. Te Maire Martin 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Wayde Egan 10. Bunty Afoa 11. Jackson Ford 12. Mitchell Barnett 14. Dylan Walker 15. Tom Ale 16. Jazz Tevaga 17. Jacob Laban 21. Paul Roache
Panthers: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Izack Tago 18. Paul Alamoti 5. Brian To’o 6. Jack Cole 7. Jarome Luai 15. Lindsay Smith 9. Mitch Kenny 10. James Fisher-Harris 11. Luke Garner 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo 20. Tyrone Peachey 8. Moses Leota 16. Matt Eisenhuth 22. Scott Sorensen
Welcome one, welcome all
Afternoon sports fans,
Welcome to Sunday, magic Sunday, where we’ve got three NRL games to round out one hell of a weekend from Brisbane in round 11. Thoughts and prayers to the punters and pundits on the ground – this early game is your Heartbreak Hill, when the legs are burning, the stomach is churning and your body is screaming no more.
For those of you not clinging to a plastic seat in the Suncorp stands and bars, it’s an especially tantalising Sunday afternoon, starting with the always high flying Panthers – sans Nathan Cleary – and the once mighty, now not-so-much Warriors, kicking off at 1.30pm AEST.
Then it’s Parramatta and Melbourne before the Dolphins and Tigers round us out. So without further ado, giddy up.
