Nathan Cleary has terrorised his Penrith teammates during opposed sessions and will be more than physically ready for his finals return, according to Panthers co-skipper Isaah Yeo.
The biggest talking point in the countdown to Friday’s Battle of the West against Parramatta will be the fitness of Cleary after five weeks on the sideline because of suspension.
But the star halfback has not only maintained his condition, he has also learned to look at the game from a different angle, says Yeo.
“Nathan has had five weeks to work for the best month of footy he’s got,” Yeo told the Herald on Monday. ”He won’t be under-done because of how professional he is,” Yeo said. “He was filthy with himself because he felt like he had let the playing group down with the [Dylan Brown] tackle.
“He’s since seen the game from a different angle in the coach’s box, he understands how he might be able to implement himself and swing the momentum back our way, or while we’ve got the momentum that we make sure we strike.
“He did all the sessions, trained with the second team during opposed sessions and tested out our back three and our edges.
Nathan Cleary returns from suspension straight into a finals pressure cooker.
“The halfback is the most important position in nearly every team, and he’s the best in the business at it. Any time you have your best player in the team, it instils confidence in your group.”
The Panthers rested a dozen players last week, leaving a host of fringe players and three debutants to play in the final round against North Queensland. The club paid more than $50,000 for a charter flight so the players could leave Townsville straight after the game, only for bad weather to leave them stranded in the far north until Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, the NRL will consider whether to punish Taylan May, who was last week found guilty of assaulting a fan in a Maroochydore pub during last year’s premiership celebrations.
May did not have a conviction recorded, but the act of grabbing a teenage patron from behind and throwing him to the ground, which was all caught on CCTV, was described by magistrate Matthew McLaughlin as “cowardly”.
The NRL are fast-tracking their own inquiries, which could include a fine or potential match ban.
“We’re giving it due consideration, but it’s not been finalised,” NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said. “It’s a matter for us now, we have the information from the criminal matter, we’ll look at it and make a call.”
Yeo said May was grateful he had closure in terms of the court hearing.
“He’s happy it’s all done now, I know as a group it hasn’t been a concern whatsoever, and I’m just happy for him nothing major came out of it,” Yeo said of May. “It’s all been put to bed and he doesn’t have to worry about it again. There was no conviction and he can move on.”
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