The Panthers endured a mixed day at training on Monday as the build up to Friday night’s NRL preliminary-final against the Melbourne Storm continues.
While star halfback Nathan Cleary suffered a finger injury during a light training session and was sent to hospital to undergo scans, there was better news for halves partner Jarome Luai as he took another step towards a comeback from a shoulder injury.
Luai tested his injured left shoulder and took part in contact drills for the first time since dislocating it against Parramatta four weeks ago.
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Panthers winger Brian To’o is confident that Luai will be fit to play against the Storm.
“Everyone feeds off his energy, it’s pretty contagious and I think everyone gets into it and buys into and it definitely lifts up all the boys,” To’o said about the importance of Luai.
“Good to see him back and really happy that he’s fully healed and ready to go.”
Luai’s inclusion would be a significant boost for Penrith as they push towards a historic NRL premiership three-peat.
While Jack Cogger has impressed filling in at five-eighth in Penrith’s last two matches, Luai and Cleary have won 83 of 94 games starting together at all levels since their time in the under-20s at Penrith.
Panthers centre Izack Tago also got through contact work during training. However, he remains in doubt with a pectoral muscle injury that ruled him out of the qualifying-final win against the Warriors.
Meanwhile, the Storm have their own injury concerns, with halfback Jahrome Hughes (calf) and winger Xavier Coates (ankle) racing the clock to be fit for the preliminary-final against the Panthers.
The injured pair both missed Melbourne’s 18-13 semi-final win over the Sydney Roosters last weekend, with Hughes considered more of a chance to take on the Panthers than Coates.
“I’m tracking really well,” Hughes said on Monday.
“I don’t need to really rush anything, just give myself enough time to get it right.”
Hughes admitted watching the nail-biter against the Roosters from the sidelines was difficult, and said he would put the team first when it comes to a decision about his fitness.
“I probably gave the physio a bit of a headache last week because I told him I was all sweet, but he obviously didn’t think so,” Hughes said.
“The thing that I don’t want to do is go out there underdone.
“If I don’t get through the game, it puts my team under pressure, so I’ll make sure I’m ready to go before going out there.
“I didn’t train much at all last week.
“This week I started really well, had a little trot (on Sunday) and hopefully get into training (Tuesday).”
– With AAP
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