NRL 2023: Penrith coach Ivan Cleary adamant injured stars will be finals ready

August 23, 2023 Viral10 News 0

URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL URL

A succession of “significant injuries” keeps thwarting Penrith coach Ivan Cleary‘s plans to rest players in the lead-up to the finals and he was coy on what sort of team he may send out in the final round of the regular season.

Premiership players Izack Tago, Mitch Kenny and Scott Sorensen will all miss Thursday night’s home game against Parramatta, but Brian To’o returns as Cleary remains adamant his side will be at full strength by finals time.

Kenny and Sorensen also missed last week’s massive win over the Gold Coast, while Tago is missing a sixth consecutive game with a knee injury just two weeks before the finals campaign begins.

Cleary famously rested almost the entire Penrith starting side for their last game before finals last season before his side’s grand final triumph and has previously given players games off during Penrith’s past three seasons that have netted two minor premierships as well as back-to-back grand final wins.

But he conceded the players were missing due to injuries bad enough to impact his plans for the last two weeks of the season, with a final round clash against the Cowboys to follow this week’s match against the Eels.

“They‘re reasonably significant injuries. They’re not good enough to be able to play,” the coach said.

“It would maybe be different if we were playing a grand final, so it’s a balance between trying to get those guys in absolutely perfect shape to be able to play.

“That’s what we’re looking to do.”

The Panthers are equal ladder leaders with the Brisbane Broncos and would seemingly need to win the last two games to secure another minor premiership.

But the end game is going for a third straight NRL title, and while Cleary doesn’t want to “look too far ahead”, he’s still working on how to best have his players peaking in the finals.

“We’ve had a plan for a while but it seems that each week, something happens,” Cleary said.

“We’ve just been getting a few little niggles here and there and a couple of injuries here and there, so I don’t want to look to far ahead.”

Cleary was, however, confident that Tago, Sorensen and Kenny would all be fit in time for the finals, which begin the second week of September.

“Yes I am, at this stage,” Cleary said.

“Most of them are fairly under control. They should be all right.”

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*