By Melissa Woods
Penrith will be without Nathan Cleary for their match against South Sydney after he suffered a concussion in a bizarre collision against Melbourne on Thursday night.
Penrith lost Cleary after just seven minutes when he came off second best against Storm No.7 Jahrome Hughes when the pair slammed into each other off the ball.
Cleary was attempting to shut down a kick through from the Storm when he leapt in the air and struck Hughes’ shoulder resulting in him flying into the air before landing heavily on the AAMI Park turf.
In commentary, Fox League’s Andrew Voss described the incident as “extraordinary”.
“Oh this is extraordinary. Have a look at this. Two of the best, off the ball, have collided. And they are so the worse for wear. What a moment,” Voss said.
“It’s a most unusual collision. Cleary’s in an unusual state when he contacts Hughes. He’s sort of upright but mid-air.”
Cleary left the field and did not return after his concussion was ruled to be category 1, meaning he will be subject of the NRL’s 11-day stand-down policy and miss the round four match against South Sydney.
Nathan Cleary is assisted from the field after suffering the concussion.Credit: Getty Images
“(Nathan) seems OK, he remembers the incident, so that’s a good thing,” Penrith coach Ivan Cleary told media post-match.
“Hopefully he feels the same way tomorrow.
“I thought the boys were very brave… 14-0 down and losing Nat is a pretty big thing mentally, against a great team, I thought we hung in well.”
The Storm left AAMI Park with the competition points after the 30-24 victory, but the gutsy Panthers deserved plenty of applause for pushing the home side to the final whistle.
With Cleary out of the game 21-year-old five-eighth Jack Cole called the shots in just his 13th NRL match, but the youngster rose to the challenge.
Blaize Talagi came off the bench in his club debut to replace Cleary and also held his own.
Melbourne also had casualties, with centre Nick Meaney, suffering a suspected fractured jaw after a collision with teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona, while winger Grant Anderson limped off with a knee injury.
Despite a second straight loss, Ivan Cleary said his team “couldn’t have tried any harder”.
“There’s lots of things that we sort of didn’t help ourselves throughout the game, there’s clearly a lack of cohesion at times, which is understandable.
“But I thought from a cultural point of view, I thought they were very brave.
“I thought the boys couldn’t have tried any harder.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy felt his team could have become complacent in the shock absence of Cleary.
“We had that good start, and then he goes off, and some of the players probably thought … in the back of your mind you find a voice is telling you, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s going to be OK today,’” Bellamy said.
“But they (Penrith) are a really professional team, and they know how to win, and you just can’t do that with them.”
AAP
