Having learnt a harsh lesson about concentrating on an injured halfback in an NRL grand closing, Melbourne is not going to go after Penrith celebrity Nathan Cleary’s shoulder within the premiership decider.
Within the 2018 grand closing, the Storm acquired distracted by Sydney Roosters quantity seven Cooper Cronk, who went into the Stadium Australia match with a fractured shoulder blade.
Their former teammate marshalled the Roosters to an emphatic 21-6 victory.
Whereas Storm skipper Harry Grant was not a part of that Melbourne line-up, he mentioned his workforce wouldn’t make the identical mistake in Sunday’s showdown.
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Cleary missed three video games after falling on his left shoulder in opposition to the Storm in spherical 24, returning for the finals, and he appeared to irritate the joint “instability” late in Saturday’s 26-6 preliminary closing win over Cronulla.
However with Cleary dominant since his return, together with offering three attempt assists in opposition to the Sharks, Grant mentioned the halfback had confirmed he might carry his damage with out it affecting his contribution.
“We need not concentrate on one participant, on Nathan and his shoulder,” Grant mentioned on Monday.
“I feel he is proven in current weeks, lately, the category participant he’s and the way he performs, whether or not he is underneath a little bit of an damage cloud or not, in these huge video games.
“He is proven that in the previous couple of weeks by means of his performances, and we can’t count on something completely different, so we’re not going out to focus on him or deal with him any in another way than we usually would.”
Whereas solely Cameron Munster, Christian Welch and Nelson Asofa-Solomona stay from the 2018 grand closing workforce, Melbourne’s personal star quantity seven, Jahrome Hughes, mentioned going after Cleary would come at a price.
“I feel if we focus an excessive amount of on him and his damage, then I feel that is not going to go nicely for us,” Hughes mentioned.
“Just a few of the boys performed within the ’18 grand closing and so they carry up that they most likely targeted on Cooper an excessive amount of, greater than they wanted to, and it most likely got here again to chunk them.
“We have totally discovered from that as a membership, and we most likely will not be taking a look at that an excessive amount of and be extra specializing in what we might do as a workforce to be higher.”
A neck damage flared for Hughes throughout his workforce’s 48-18 preliminary closing win in opposition to the Roosters final Friday evening however he was transferring freely on Monday.
The grand closing might cap an enormous week for the 29-year-old, who’s a favorite to win the Dally M Medal on Wednesday evening as the sport’s finest participant in 2024.
With Cleary restricted to simply 12 matches this season as a consequence of hamstring in addition to shoulder points, Hughes mentioned his rival was nonetheless the most effective within the enterprise.
Melbourne remorse specializing in injured Cooper Cronk (proper) throughout the 2018 grand closing. (Getty Pictures: Mark Kolbe)
“I feel that Nathan’s most likely the most effective participant within the sport,” Hughes mentioned.
“Clearly he hasn’t performed an excessive amount of this 12 months, however I feel simply the affect he has on that workforce, and simply his performs are so skilful, and he can do just about every little thing, so he is the complete package deal.”
Grant completed the preliminary closing with a calf damage however the skipper declared he could be at full energy come Sunday.
“I am feeling good. It was just a bit niggle,” the 26-year-old mentioned.
“I’ve performed sufficient footy through the years to grasp if one thing’s critical, and it was just a bit little bit of an consciousness.
“I feel it was 15-20 minutes into the sport, I performed the entire sport and had no dramas with it so I am undoubtedly not fearful or enthusiastic about it.”
AAP
