The Penrith Panthers have confirmed Nathan Cleary will avoid shoulder surgery after head coach Ivan Cleary revealed son Nathan Cleary's latest injury is a 're-occurrence' of the same injury he suffered during the pre-season.
The Panthers said in an injury update on Friday morning that Cleary's injury avoiding surgery will see plans to have him available for the NRL finals.
"Scans today confirmed that Nathan experienced a recurrence of the shoulder instability he had earlier in the year," the club wrote.
"The scans indicate that he has avoided immediate surgery. The positive outcome is that the club plans to have Nathan available for the NRL Finals."
It's unclear if Cleary will be available again during the regular season, but it now seems unlikely.
The star halfback, who missed the entire State of Origin series this year with a hamstring injury, had also been managing a shoulder problem over the first part of the campaign.
The coach, speaking after Penrith's tight loss at the foot of the mountains to the Melbourne Storm on Thursday evening, said that while his son managed to get the injury right during his time out, it is a re-occurrence and scans will be needed to confirm the level of damage.
"He obviously has a shoulder injury. He hurt it in the pre-season, then had some trouble with it early in the year. Throughout [the time he spent out with] the hamstring issues, he has sort of got on top of it. It's a re-occurrence tonight," Cleary said during his post-match press conference.
"We aren't sure [the specifics of it]. Concerned though. It was bad enough for him to come off. We will organise scans tomorrow, then be in a better position for him to have a way forward, but it's a concern for sure."
The NRL Physio believes the injury could be an 'instability' issue, with a wide recovery ranging anywhere from two weeks to six months, pending on the nature of the injury which will be determined by scans.
Obviously not confirmed, but sounding like an instability episode (subluxation/dislocation). If that is the case - wide recovery range:
- minimal structural damage and shoulder stable: rehab & 2-6 week return
- significant damage & shoulder unstable: surgery & 3-6 months— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 15, 2024
The coach did leave with some good news for fans of the club though, saying Nathan was in better spirits than after he did his hamstring in a clash against the Canterbury Bulldogs in Round 10.
"He just sort of expalined how he felt and what happened as best he could, but I was just checking in on him more than anything," the coach said.
"He is in better shape than when he did his hammy, so hopefully that's good news, but what do you do? It's just one of those years I think."
Cleary has only managed ten games this season owing to his injury troubles, and captain Isaah Yeo said the team were ready to go again in the absence of the star.
"We have been playing games without Nathan for big chunks of the year just because of his hammy, so that should give us confidence that we know that we can do it," Yeo said.
"We will have to change a little bit, but I thought Romey [Jarome Luai] was very good over that period of time too. There will certainly have to be individuals that need to step up, but it won't be new for us."
The loss to Melbourne all but confirms the Panthers will fall short of the minor premiership, but they are still in pole position to hang onto a top two spot with games to be played against the Canberra Raiders, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Gold Coast Titans over the closing weeks of the season.
