Walker Returns Against the Team That Injured Him, and Cleary Plays Hurt: the Prelim Team Lists Are In
Team lists landed on Tuesday, and both preliminary finals now come down to the same question, asked about two different players: how much can a body take in the last week of September?
Sam Walker, and the injury the Dolphins gave him
On 29 August, in round 26, the Dolphins beat the Roosters 26-12. Somewhere in that game Sam Walker did the syndesmosis in his ankle. He hasn’t played since. It was the sort of injury that usually ends a season in September — syndesmosis damage is the ligament problem that keeps footballers in moon boots for months, not weeks.
He has been named to play on Friday. Against the Dolphins.
He got through everything at training on Monday — running, kicking, the lot — and Trent Robinson has backed him in. If he takes the field at Suncorp, it’s a little under four weeks between doing the ankle and playing a final on it, against the same team, on the same ground where the season ends if it goes wrong.
Nathan Cleary hurt himself winning Penrith a rest
Penrith’s problem is quieter and probably more serious. Nathan Cleary has what’s been described as a stress-related bone issue in his foot. He picked it up in the qualifying final against the Roosters — in the closing stages, around the field goal that won the game and bought Penrith their week off.
There is something almost unfair about that. The whole point of finishing on top and winning that first final is the rest it buys you. Cleary got injured earning it.
He downplayed it immediately, telling Fox League he “just copped a little bump on the foot” and that he “wasn’t sure how it would hold up goal kicking” — which is why he handed the kicking duties over as a precaution. Teammate Thomas Jenkins was more relaxed about it this week: “Yeah, at this rate, he’s obviously playing. So, it’s all looking good.” Jenkins reckons Cleary “could do it in his sleep.”
He’s named. Whether he’s the same player on a foot that’s been managed for three weeks is the thing nobody can answer until Sunday afternoon.
Newcastle didn’t change a thing
The Knights named the same side that won at Eden Park. No clever reshuffles, no late inclusions — the team that got them their first preliminary final since 2013 gets to go again. For a side that has taken the long road all September, there’s a logic to that.
The weekend
Dolphins v Roosters — Friday 25 September, Suncorp Stadium.
Penrith v Newcastle — Sunday 27 September, Accor Stadium.
The two winners meet in the grand final on 4 October. Between now and then, two medical staffs will spend the week doing the least glamorous and most important work in the competition.
