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Jarome Luai returns to training as extent of Panthers’ injuries revealed
Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary have headlined a group of premiership Panthers who returned to pre-season training on Thursday.
Laying the groundwork for a fourth consecutive title, the players were put through their paces with fitness training before hitting the field under the beating sun.
Cleary did not appear to be impeded by the knee injury that he suffered during this year’s grand final that ruled him out of the Pacific Championship.
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“He is looking good, and he already looks like he’s in for another great year — he looks like he’ll go until he’s 40,” Panthers second-rower Mavrik Geyer said of Cleary’s condition.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Cleary suffered a grade-three posterior cruciate ligament rupture while being tackled by Payne Haas.
If the injury had occurred during the regular season, it could have seen Cleary sidelined for up to two months.
“They call it the dashboard car injury, where if you have a head-on accident it can typically damage or rupture that ligament, such is the force involved,” Panthers physio Pete Green said.
“Had it been during the season, and what time of year it was, he could have come back half-done in two or three weeks, or you come back properly in six to eight weeks.
“Considering he has travelled around a fair bit with little rehab, he was in remarkable shape.”
Cleary’s off-season included trips to New York and Bali, and a much-publicised jaunt to Perth to visit his rumoured new girlfriend, Matildas star Mary Fowler.
Luai, who underwent shoulder surgery in October to repair a dislocation, also participated in the gruelling fitness session.
The 26-year-old continues to weigh up whether to remain at the Panthers beyond the end of the 2024 season or accept big-money deals on offer from the Wests Tigers and other suitors.
Luai will resume passing in the new year but will not engage in any contact work until a few weeks out from round one.
“He actually had a big labral repair, they also had to fix up his bicep tendon, and also a bit of what Nathan had, which is the rotator-cuff tendon — it was the hamburger with the lot,” Green said.
“The surgery he had was called ‘latarjet’, which is where they transfer bone from another part of your body. You come back stronger, but it also means you have to be slower with your recovery to start.”
This week, Penrith CEO Matt Cameron indicated that the club was prepared to increase the amount of years on offer beyond their initial two-year deal to ward off rival interest.
Prop Moses Leota was the only other Panther to go under the knife, undergoing a procedure to repair a nerve impairment in his shoulder.
