Ivan Cleary has confirmed that superstar five-eighth Jarome Luai will play this weekend as Penrith aim to make their fourth consecutive decider.
The Samoan and New South Welshman half dislocated his shoulder in the club's Round 26 clash against the Parramatta Eels, leaving Luai at long-odds to feature again this season.
In fact, Phil Gould declared the five-eighth was 'a million-to-one' to run out against the Melbourne Storm on Friday night.
It appears Ivan Cleary may be a betting man then with Luai named to play the preliminary final at Accor Stadium, and the head coach confirmed his inclusion on Thursday morning.
โPretty much from the day it happened, it was all going to come down to the scans the next day,โ Cleary told Wide World of Sports.
โOnce we got that scan, the news was pretty good and this game was always the one that the medical staff planned on him getting back for.
โWe just had to get to the game, which we've been able to do.
โIt's all systems go.โ
It's a massive boost for Penrith, who have won 77 of Luai's 89 NRL games between 2020 and now, and he isn't the only one being given the green light.
Nathan Cleary will play after dislocating his finger at training, whilst the head coach also ensured the media that Izack Tago had recovered from his pec strain and would take his place in the centres on Friday.
It will be the two club's third meeting in the finals between 2020 and now, with Melbourne beating the Panthers in that season's decider before Penrith eliminated the Storm in a prelim the following year.
