Rugby league great Cameron Smith believes Nathan Cleary’s shoulder injury could be worse than first thought.
Cleary was one of the form players in the competition before injuring his shoulder in Origin II for New South Wales, and is now nearing a return.
While he has resumed contact sessions at training, Smith believes the injury might be more serious than we’re being told and that he could have trouble managing it throughout the rest of the season.
“I mentioned yesterday about Cleary,” Smith said on SEN’s Pat and Heals.
“This is my gut feeling – his shoulder injury is a lot more serious than what we’re being told.
“There’s a few concerns out there for Penrith fans.
“It started out that it was just a minor injury, then it went to a six to eight-week rehabilitation to get it right.
“Say he comes back and it’s not quite right, I’ve seen former teammates with shoulder injuries where they’ve had that subluxed shoulder where it pops out and pops back in.
“There’s just continual issues throughout the year where they’re trying to manage it and get through game by game until there’s an opportunity to get it fixed properly.”
If Cleary does make an early return, he’ll be forced to play with the injury before he goes in for surgery at the end of Penrith’s campaign.