New South Wales star Nathan Cleary could miss the remainder of the season as fears surrounding the extent of his shoulder injury persist.
One of the favourites to take out man of the series honours following two superb performances, Cleary went down heavily on his right shoulder during the 26-0 thumping in Brisbane on Sunday evening.
The Sydney Morning Herald now report that the Penrith star could have his 2021 campaign cut short, with surgery potentially placing the gun halfback on the sidelines for four months.
Speaking on SEN this morning, Origin coach Brad Fittler said Cleary was heading for scans today.
“He’ll get his shoulder scanned,” Fittler said.
“We’ll get his results today, but it’s looking pretty unlikely that he’ll play. He went down pretty hard on his shoulder Nathan.
“We’re just sort of hoping that everything will be good enough that he’ll be back fighting for the Panthers soon enough. He’s had a great start to the season, and he’s under a lot of pressure, but he more than stood up on the big stage.”
Cleary came into Origin carrying red-hot form, having guided the Panthers to 12 wins from 12 to start the NRL season.
The 23-year-old, who also captains his club, has eight tries and 14 assists in his 12 games at club level. Cleary had no problems carrying that over to the Origin arena, adding a try assist, but also running the ball superbly at around 100 metres in both games.
The star half may not have put up his club level stats, but in a team of stars, he simply didn't have to.
Should Cleary be ruled out for 2021, the question now remains as to who will replace him at the Blues. Fittler remained tight-lipped on who he may call into the squad.
“There’s a few options and obviously there’s some halfbacks playing really good footy that are from New South Wales, so that’s fantastic," Fittler said.
Mitchell Moses may well be the front-runner should Cleary fail to pass fitness. The Eels' halfback has registered 12 try assists and 9 forced drop outs in his 15 games this year.
The Panthers will be sweating on Cleary being available as soon as possible too. They lost both games without their halfback during the period around Origin 1 and will almost certainly have to face the Eels without him this weekend.
Cleary's scan results are likely to be available later today.
