Nathan Cleary tweaked his groin while practising goal kicking at Tuesday’s captain’s run and was only given the green light to play against Queensland after he got through Wednesday night’s pre-match warm-up.
Teammate Payne Haas also sent an almighty scare through the Blues camp on Monday, when the new metal studs on the boots he was wearing dug into the grass at HBF Park and also left him feeling discomfort in his groin.
Teammates were unaware of the private fitness battles involving their chief playmaker and premier prop. Cleary was rated the bigger concern, with 18th man Matt Burton ready to step in had Cleary not received the thumbs-up inside Optus Stadium.
A day earlier, Cleary had done only minimal goal-kicking practice, later telling reporters it had been a case of load management.
But alarm bells rang when he took the field with his right upper leg heavily strapped. Jarome Luai – and occasionally Latrell Mitchell – did the general-play kicking, while Zac Lomax took on goal-kicking duties.
Blues doctor Nathan Gibbs said Cleary had strained an adductor, and “there was a high risk of making the injury worse”. Cleary did well to avoid injury when he stepped off his right foot to score a try that was later denied before half-time, Gibbs said.
Nathan Cleary had his right leg strapped during the game.Credit: Getty Images
“He was not only tough, but mentally tough with the way he handled the injury … he could have gone out there and been a passenger, but he didn’t. He hasn’t aggravated it, and the fact he played a day later, there will be no problems when he plays with Penrith in eight days.”
Cleary praised NSW medicos for helping him take the field, and backed himself to be fit for Penrith’s NRL match against Canterbury on Thursday week. None of the Panthers who played on Wednesday night will make the eight-hour flight to Auckland for Saturday’s match against the Warriors.
“It sort of just popped up on Tuesday, which was frustrating, but to be honest, the physios did a great job, and made sure I got on the field,” Cleary said. “I was always confident I’d play – in my mind, I didn’t think I was in doubt.
“It sort of just popped up while I was goalkicking yesterday. I wasn’t too sure what it was, so I was just visualising [goal-kicking] instead.”
Payne Haas runs the ball against the Maroons.Credit: Getty Images
Cleary took it upon himself to kick more in the second half, and said “adrenaline” may have had something to do with him taking back control of the Blues’ last-play options.
“Looking back, I was frustrated in myself that I didn’t just go and play anyway,” he said. “I sort of knew once the adrenaline came, I’d be sweet. It ended up happening [with me being the main kicker], but I should’ve had that mindset from the start.
“I’m not sure [if it will linger]. I think these things settle quite quickly. It’s probably more the kicking that stirs it up. Obviously we’re not backing up this weekend [for Penrith], so that helps, and I’ll recover and make sure I’m right for next Thursday.”
Haas, meanwhile, strainedf the insertion point of his groin, and said he felt tightness in the groin on Monday after trialling a new set of boots.
“It was the first time I wore metals, and they got stuck in the ground,” said Haas, who plans to back up for Brisbane on Sunday. “It wasn’t bad, I just tweaked it; it was all good.
“We got caught up in [the niggle] a bit in the first half, and we lost our heads a bit. That was poor discipline from us.
“But I have so much faith and belief in this team. Seeing what we did in the second half, it would have been easy to throw that game away because we knew we had another game [to win the series], but we fought hard, and I can’t wait for Sydney to play them.”
Winger Brian To’o barely trained all week because of a groin injury, but ran for more than 200m and scored a hat-trick of tries. He was voted player’s player.
“It was more precaution, the hamstring has been stop-start earlier in the year and this was just a bit of maintenance,” To’o said. “I was always backing myself to play.”
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