Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Nathan Cleary’s next week will feature daily visits to a hyperbaric chamber, twice-daily use of a bone stimulation machine, regular icing and light physio as he works around the clock to be fit for Penrith’s seventh straight preliminary final.
The same six-man medical team that has helped Cleary and several other key members of the Panthers team get back on the field well ahead of schedule since their premiership era began in 2021 is going all out to ensure the star halfback can overcome a bone injury in his right foot.
Cleary wore a moon boot on Thursday and was a spectator as his Panthers teammates hit the training paddock for the first time since their qualifying-final win over the Sydney Roosters.
The star halfback suffered stress fractures in his right foot, or what the club described as “a stress-related bone issue”, in the 68th minute while making a tackle on Roosters back-rower Salesi Foketi. Replays showed Cleary’s toe gripping into the ground as he swung around the back of Foketi.
Cleary kicked a crucial field goal four minutes later, but immediately signalled to the medical team that he was in trouble.
The NRL gave Cleary and Penrith a boost on Thursday when they scheduled their preliminary final next Sunday afternoon against the winner of the Warriors-Newcastle semi-final.
The Sunday timeslot gives the Penrith medical team up to 48 hours extra to rehab Cleary.
It remains to be seen when Cleary will be expected to run for the first time. If he does require painkillers, it will be to the area around the foot – not the actual bone – to make him feel more comfortable.
Dylan Edwards suffered a plantar fascia tear in round 13 of the 2021 season and played on for the remainder of the year before he suffered stress fractures in his foot on the eve of the finals. On that occasion, Edwards was kept off his feet in a boot most of the week, and only asked to complete a light fitness test two days before a game – or what is often known in rugby league circles as “G2” – to prove he was no liability.
If there is one medical team with a proven record of defying medical logic, it is that of Panthers, which consists of head physio Pete Green, rehab physio Mitch Delahay, reconditioning chief Andrew Leeds, the former Wallabies and Western Suburbs Magpies fullback, as well as sports doctors Corey Cunningham and Scott Reid and head of performance Tommy Lovell.
Coach Ivan Cleary has given the medical team full control over what methods and programs they adopt with injured players, and he has done so again with his own son, whose availability or otherwise is set to prove crucial to the club’s chances of winning a fifth premiership in six seasons.
Some of the Panthers’ comebacks have been well documented, while other injuries that should have kept players out of action have slipped under the radar. They include:
• Prop James Fisher-Harris suffering a major quad tendon tear in the 2021 semi-final against Parramatta, only to be heavily treated and restricted to one light training session a week so he could play in the preliminary final and grand final;
• Jarome Luai and Cleary returning from shoulder dislocations within in four weeks in time for the finals in 2023 and 2024;
• Liam Henry suffering a partial ACL tear at the start of this year, which the medical team chose to rehab rather than send him for surgery – a decision which now has the Perth-bound prop 160 minutes from a second title;
• Cleary missing just one game after picking up a serious hip pointer injury during Origin I, which left him struggling to sit down and sleep for three days;
• Isaah Yeo getting back on the park and playing just four weeks after rupturing his right pec.
Cleary, Yeo and several senior players at Penrith often ask themselves, “what would Api do?”, a reference to former premiership hooker Api Koroisau renowned for his healing powers.
Koroisau suffered a ligament sprain in his elbow which should have sidelined him for at least a month, but missed only one game.
Newcastle captain Kalyn Ponga revealed earlier this week he had suffered similar stress fractures in his foot during the pre-season after too much long-distance running over the summer but, unlike Cleary, had the luxury of staying off his feet for almost six weeks.
Brien Seeney, known as NRL Physio on social media, gave this masthead an insight into what awaits Cleary.
“It will all be about deloading,” Seeney said. “Ivan Cleary has already touched on the fact a lot of Nathan’s prep will have to be ‘mental’ the next few weeks – he’ll have to do that mental prep because he won’t be able to do much physical prep.
“There is a chance of doing more damage, but it won’t be catastrophic damage. If there’s already a stress response there, you can make the small crack a bigger crack. But it’s not life changing, it just means he needs eight to ten weeks recovery over the off-season, rather than four to six weeks.
“The thing that will put most pressure on it will be exploding off the mark, jumping and landing, and changing direction. Kicking wouldn’t put as much pressure on it compared to sprinting off the mark.”
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