Nathan Cleary missed State of Origin, sat out large chunks of the season, and has had to play through pain all year, but the game’s greatest modern player will still be the most crucial participant tonight.
The 26-year-old has played just 12 games this season, his lowest tally across nine seasons in the NRL. The knee injury he suffered in last season’s grand final affected his off season, and then a serious hamstring complaint meant he played just two games between rounds three and 20. His shoulder injury a month later kept him out for another three weeks, but he has returned and managed it during the finals.
Yet Cleary’s left shoulder remains one of the grand final’s major talking points. He was taken off in the final minutes in the preliminary final against Cronulla after appearing to aggravate it in a tackle, and respected NRL injury analyst Brian Seeney has described the problem – which makes a recurrence more likely – as a “ticking timebomb”.
Munster said this week that he and Martin “didn’t like each other” even when they were teammates for Australia. “I thought we were fine, but obviously that’s not the case,” Martin responded. “If he feels like that, then that’s his problem. It won’t change anything on Sunday.”
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