Panthers sweat on stars

BRISBANE: Penrith fear Mitch Kenny won’t play again this year while they continue to sweat on Viliame Kikau’s ankle ahead of their preliminary final against Melbourne.
Both Kenny and Kikau will likely receive news on their injuries today, after they were both hurt in Saturday night’s semifinal win over Parramatta.
The Panthers were unable to get full clarity over the pair’s fitness on yesterday after a late-night return to the Sunshine Coast from Mackay.
Kikau’s potential absence will be the biggest blow for the Panthers, given the threat he can offer on their potent left edge.
He pulled off the match-saving tackle against the Storm in their grand final rematch in March, and has provided big impact off the bench.
He returned to the Panthers base in a moon boot with the club hopeful it is not a syndesmosis injury that would likely end his season.
“He just got a really big gash on his leg and rolled his ankle,” coach Ivan Cleary said of Kikau.
“Hopefully, it’s just a lateral sprain and not syndesmosis. Which I don’t think it is.
“Mitch Kenny looks like he has done something pretty serious too … we’ll be trying to find some fresh bodies for next week.”
Kenny was hurt in the dying minutes of the 8-6 win, causing controversy when play was stopped with the Eels on the attack.” – Yahoo Sports Australia

Arthur frustrated over calls

BRISBANE: Parramatta coach Brad Arthur was left frustrated by a number of stoppages in play when he felt his side were on the front foot during a gripping 8-6 loss to Penrith in Mackay on Saturday night.
A shattered Arthur said the Panthers “got what they were after from the back of whingeing” in recent weeks and lamented the fact the game was halted at critical times.
Play was stopped late in the game as the Eels were on the attack when Panthers trainer Pete Green signalled to referee Ashley Klein that hooker Mitch Kenny was in distress 20 metres away from the action.
“(We’re) trying to make the game faster and how many stoppages were there tonight? How many? When we were starting to get on top,” Arthur said.
“There was a lot. (Then) we make a line break from the backfield, we get down there, Will Penisini gets tackled off the ball, Mitch Moses is running down there on the chase and gets tackled in the background.
“There’s been a bit of complaining over the last couple of weeks.
“They (Penrith) got what they were after from the back of the whingeing.” – NRL

Trbojevic, Manly make turnaround to rout Roosters

BRISBANE: A rare off night from Tom Trbojevic gave the scribes something to scribble about for the past week, but his and Manly’s 64-point turnaround as the maroon and whites marched to a preliminary showdown with South Sydney.
Melbourne’s equal parts dissection/demolition of Manly last week was on Friday turned upon the Roosters in a brutal 42-6 carve-up.
The Tricolours gallant season ends in unbefitting fashion.
The Sea Eagles’ 36-point winning margin though, just seven days after a 28-point thrashing, has now made for the largest finals turnaround in rugby league history.
In March this Manly outfit was tipped for the wooden spoon as an 0-4 start piled pressure on players and Des Hasler alike.
They have now pinched the biggest finals turnaround record from Wayne Bennett as he looms in the opposite coach’s box next week – surpassing the 60-point swing his Broncos engineered in 2006 en route to the title.
Trbojevic’s U-turn on the rare Storm shutdown he found himself caught in proved equally stark.
So much so that after two tries, three line breaks, 10 tackle busts and 196 running metres, Hasler put him on ice for the final 15 minutes.
True to form, Trbojevic wasn’t happy about it. – NRL

Melbourne pack aiming to put pressure on Cleary

BRISBANE: Melbourne’s pack intend to make life hell for Nathan Cleary but say it’s nothing personal, just what they do to kickers.
A week after Ivan Cleary’s famous war of words with Wayne Bennett, the kick blockers debate is almost certain to be reignited in National Rugby League preliminary final week.
Nathan Cleary is the most dangerous kicker in the game, with his towering bombs enough to put fright into any fullback.
But Melbourne prop Christian Welch is the closest thing he has to a kryptonite, with his linespeed making him the best in the game at applying kick pressure.
And he’s backed by others in a Melbourne pack who are expert in limiting kickers’ time to get the ball away.
“It doesn’t really matter who is playing at halfback, we are going to pressure them,” Melbourne hooker-turned-lock Brandon Smith said.
“Players like Christian Welch and Jesse Bromwich get (a lot of excitement) out of pressuring halfbacks.
“We’re just going to go out there and pressure them because that’s what we were trained to do, that’s what wins footy games.
“We’re going to pressure (Penrith halves) Jarome Luai and Cleary.”
Cleary’s duels with Welch already have some big-game history, and the Panthers superstar is far from Welch’s only victim.
Welch gave Cleary little room as Melbourne won last year’s grand final, and he was at it again in State of Origin one last year.
The Storm prop missed Origin two when Cleary was able to kick freely, before Maroons coach Wayne Bennett is believed to have made a query about New South Wales kick blockers.
Whether that worked or not, Welch returned in Game three to pressure the Blues’ halves and help claim a shock series win for Queensland.
Cleary claimed victory over Welch in Origin this year, but the battle is set to resume in Saturday’s preliminary final with a grand final spot on the line. – Yahoo Sports Australia