Cleary the hero and villain as Penrith progress
Scott Bailey |
Nathan Cleary is at risk of being rubbed out of Penrith’s preliminary final after booting the Panthers to a thrilling 19-12 finals win over the Sydney Roosters.
In a cracking Sunday afternoon qualifying final, Cleary was sin-binned for collecting Hugo Savala’s leg before breaking a 12-12 deadlock with a late field goal at CommBank Stadium.
Brian To’o then iced the win with a 77th minute try after pouncing on a spilled Roosters pass.
The result means the Roosters will host Cronulla in a do-or-die semi-final on Saturday night, while Penrith are one win away from their sixth grand final in seven years.
But all eyes will be on the NRL’s charge sheet on Monday, with Cleary anxiously awaiting what sanction he will face for crashing into Savala’s leg after the Roosters player kicked in the first half.
The Panthers star immediately gave a worried look, before referee Gerard Sutton told him his action had “force”, was “very dangerous” and “carried a high risk of injury”.
If Cleary was to receive a grade-two dangerous contact charge on Monday, the game’s best player would be facing a ban from the preliminary final with an early plea.
If he elected to challenge the charge, he would then risk being rubbed out of the grand final if found guilty.
A grade-one charge would only attract a fine for Cleary, and prove a massive boost in Penrith’s bid for a fifth premiership of their dynasty.
Both Josh Aloiai and Jacob Host were handed grade-two charges by the match review committee for collecting the outstretched legs of kickers in 2024.
But Harry Grant did manage to have a grade-one charge for contact on Dan Atkinson overturned that year.
The Roosters failed to make use of Cleary’s absence, with Savala missing the ensuing penalty goal and being denied a try for a double movement after the break.
That was one of the few chances during a scoreless opening 32 minutes of the second half, before Cleary stepped up as the game’s ultimate ice man.
Sat in the attacking line after a searching Moses Leota run, Cleary was able to slot over the one-pointer with no pressure from Roosters defenders.
Daly Cherry-Evans then attempted to reciprocate moments later, but sprayed a shot from 20 metres out to the right before To’o’s sealer under the posts.
Cleary’s boot had also wreaked havoc early on Sunday, with the Roosters unable to handle three of his bombs and Liam Martin leaping to score off one of his shallow cross-field kicks.
The Penrith halfback also changed the point of attack and went back inside to Dylan Edwards for the Panthers’ second try, with the fullback swerving his way over to make it 12-12 after 38 minutes.
Mark Nawaqanitawase’s freakish ability had kept the Roosters in the match in the first half, with two key intercepts.
The Roosters winger first helped deny a Penrith try when he reached out and held onto an Isaiah Papali’i ball in the third minute.
He then gave the Roosters a 12-6 lead when he stretched out to stop a Penrith break, juggled a the ball three time as he fell, got up and ran 45 metres to score.
AAP