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2024 Panthers

The Realist

Juniors
Messages
1,880
IMO, we must allow both halves to play both sides of the field. Cleary looked electric whenever he got a little wider of the ruck (which was mostly with Cogger to be fair).
There was another game against Manly at home early in the year. We absolutely shredded them in the first half using this tactic.

We've also shown that guys like Martin, Garner and Tago can play either side of the field. I'd be continuing to switch that up throughout the year - trying to find the best matchups for us to exploit. Will make it harder for our opposition to break us down defensively if they're unsure who will be standing next to who.

I remember when Nathan Brown was still Newcastle coach and he was asked about Nathan Cleary and origin. Browny was obviously trying to support the claim for Mitchell Pearce to be the NSW Halfback but I think he touched on a partial truth of the time.

He said that whilst Cleary has the #7 on his back, he sees him as more of a 5/8 in particularly with his running game. There were times when he used to play 2nd fiddle to Maloney, or would simply drift wider and get the ball at 2nd receiver and look so much better.

It still happens now and again with the biggest example being the 23 GF when Cogger effectively played a mix of up tempo halfback/hooker at times and all of a sudden Cleary (and our entire attack) became a lot less predictable.
 
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MugaB

Coach
Messages
15,004
I remember when Nathan Brown was still Newcastle coach and he was asked about Nathan Cleary and origin. Browny was obviously trying to support the claim for Mitchell Pearce to be the NSW Halfback but I think he touched on a partial truth of the time.

He said that whilst Cleary has the #7 on his back, he sees him as more of a 5/8 in particularly with his running game. There were times when he used to play 2nd fiddle to Maloney, or would simply drift wider and get the ball at 2nd receiver and look so much better.

It still happens now and again with the biggest example being the 23 GF when Cogger effectively played a mix of up tempo halfback/hooker at times and all of a sudden Cleary (and our entire attack) became a lot less predictable.
Agreed 5/8th is Nates best position, he had been one most of his junior career, having maloney on the team just forced him into the no.7 jersey, as we saw on GF day, he was unleashed 10 minutes to go, and owned the game as good as lockyer, fittler or the king would do in an orgin game, having cogger there proved that the "system" penrith has implemented, (i hate that phrase) works, and that everyone knows their role plug in/plug out, romeys injured unplug nate, plug in cogger at 7, plug nate back into luais place, this was done in most of the semis, cogger basically was steering the ship, when he came on, will be interesting to see what he does up in newy
 

Whino

Bench
Messages
3,392
Extent of Cleary’s grand final knee injury now clear as work on title No.4 begins

ByChristian Nicolussi
December 7, 2023 — 7.37pm


A fun-filled holiday that featured trips to New York, Bali and a highly-publicised stop in Perth to visit Matildas star Mary Fowler would have felt like a distant memory for Nathan Cleary when he resumed pre-season training in furnace-like conditions in Sydney’s west on Thursday.

Cleary and good friend Jarome Luai were among a scattering of premiership winners to resume training a day earlier than expected.


They were put through some fitness activities just after 10am before getting to work on the field with a fourth-straight premiership in the back of their minds. The mercury was approaching 35 degrees celsius.

Cleary showed no signs of being impacted by the knee injury he picked up in the NRL grand final.

This masthead can now reveal Cleary suffered a grade-three posterior cruciate ligament rupture in the NRL grand final, which could have ruled him out for up to two months during the regular season.


The severity of Cleary’s injury only became apparent when he was photographed visiting Fowler on the other side of the country with his knee still in a brace.

“They call it the dashboard car injury, where if you have a head-on accident, it can typically damage or rupture that ligament, such is the force involved,” Panthers physio Pete Green said.

“Had it been during the season, and what time of year it was, he could have come back half-done in two or three weeks, or you come back properly in six-to-eight weeks.

“Considering he has travelled around a fair bit with little rehab, he was in remarkable shape.”

Panthers teammate Mavrik Geyer said of Cleary: “He is looking good, and he already looks like he’s in for another great year – he looks like he’ll go until he’s 40.”


Luai, who underwent shoulder surgery after the comeback win over the Broncos, and is still mulling over a big-money deal from the Wests Tigers for 2025 and beyond, also took part in the gruelling conditioning session.

He will resume passing in the new year, but not take part in any contact work until the weeks leading up to round one.

“He actually had a big labral repair, they also had to fix up his bicep tendon, and also a bit of what Nathan had, which is the rotator-cuff tendon – it was the hamburger with the lot,” Green said.

He made the biggest hit in the NRL and now he’s got $7m to show for it
“The surgery he had was called “latarjet”, which is where they transfer bone from another part of your body. You come back stronger, but it also means you have to be slower with your recovery to start.”

The only other Panthers’ player who went under the knife was prop Moses Leota to repair an ongoing nerve issue in his shoulder.

Penrith will head to England in the middle of February for the World Club Challenge against Wigan.

The accolades continued this week when James Fisher-Harris was awarded the Golden Boot, the game’s gong that recognised standout performances in international matches.

Penrith officials this week indicated they were prepared to offer Luai a deal beyond two years in a bid to keep him
At home beyond 2024.

 

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