Nathan Cleary’s hopes of taking part in for NSW in Sport II of State of Origin hinge on the result of scans on Monday after he limped out of Penrith’s 26-18 win over St George Illawarra.
Cleary, who was a part of the Blues aspect that misplaced the collection opener in Adelaide, pulled up in ache after simply quarter-hour at BlueBet Stadium.
Penrith is hopeful the halfback has suffered a “low-grade” pressure however it leaves the prized No.7 in extreme doubt to face the Maroons at Suncorp Stadium on June 21.
Cleary is vital to Brad Fittler’s plans because the Blues battle to avoid wasting the collection in Brisbane for the primary time in Origin historical past.
“It’s robust to take a position on the seriousness of it earlier than he’s acquired scans,” NSW adviser Greg Alexander stated in commentary for Fox Sports activities.
“However these photos, I assume everybody at Penrith is making an attempt to be as optimistic as doable and hoping it’s low-grade. I’m hoping (for) the identical factor.”
Fittler and Alexander would doubtless plump for Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes, who made his Origin debut from the bench on Wednesday, with Parramatta’s Mitch Moses and Brisbane’s Adam Reynolds doable understudies.
Cleary appeared to haven’t any indicators of rust from the Origin opener, organising winger Brian To’o with a floating cut-out cross within the eleventh minute after a Zac Lomax penalty.
Simply after the halfback pulled up sore, Mikaele Ravalawa crashed in on the nook for the Dragons.
The Fijian winger added a second within the thirty eighth minute with Lomax additionally nudging one other penalty to maintain the scoreboard ticking over for the Dragons.
Jack Cogger, who was introduced on to switch Cleary, discovered To’o with a pinpoint cross-field kick on the stroke of halftime with the winger’s effort transformed by Stephen Crichton.
After half-time, Crichton added a penalty and what adopted was an end-to-end battle between the reigning premiers and the bottom-placed Dragons for the following 20 minutes.
There was a heart-in-mouth second when Penrith’s NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai rolled his ankle however he was in a position to play on.
The rhythm ultimately broke when contact decide Wyatt Raymond flagged for a knock on by Dragons winger Mat Feagai with Sunia Turuva contact down on the hour mark.
Lomax pegged Penrith again after lock Jack de Belin was knocked out chilly from the restart however a Moses Leota attempt acquired the Panthers again in entrance with 10 minutes left.
Crichton transformed Leota’s attempt to re-establish a six-point buffer and added a last-minute penalty to make sure the Panthers of victory.