Bombs away in slippery contest
NATHAN Cleary plans to make it rain floating bombs at a soggy Pepper Stadium tonight.
The teenage Panthers halfback has not been afraid to attempt the tricky yet effective spiralling bomb this season, and caused the Sydney Roosters all sorts of problems last weekend.
Cleary said he had spent endless hours practising the floating bomb over the summer, and even roped in Panthers supremo Phil Gould for a few sessions. Gould often observed how Cleary’s bombs would land.
At just 19, only a handful of other halfbacks, most notably Melbourne’s Cooper Cronk, have the confidence to regularly use the spiralling bomb.
“I worked on it a fair bit during the pre-season, just putting them up to the outside backs,’’ Cleary said ahead of tonight’s home game against Newcastle.
“The other night it felt right to put them up, it wasn’t too windy, so I thought I’d give it a crack, and I was lucky a few came off.
“It’s hard to perfect, and I still haven’t. They come off the boot all right (against the Roosters), but there will be days where I have a few shockers and they might go out on the full.
“It’s something I do on my own. We have ‘Hilly’ (Damien Hill) here, and Gus came out on to the field one day to help me out with different types of bombs. It wasn’t an easy thing to picture but he was out there with me.’’
Cleary was spotted after training yesterday sending a few up to the heavens. Matt Moylan (c) 1 Brendan Elliot Dean Whare 2 Ken Sio Waqa Blake 3 Dane Gagai Tyrone Peachey 4 Peter Mata’utia Dallin Watene Z 5 Nathan Ross Te Maire Martin 6 Brock Lamb Nathan Cleary 7 T.Hodkinson (c) James Ramou 8 Daniel Saifiti Peter Wallace 9 Danny Levi Reagan C’ll-Gillard 10 Josh Starling Bryce Cartwright 11 Sione Mata’utia Isaah Yeo 12 Jamie Buhrer Trent Merrin 13 Mitchell Barnett INTERCHANGE Peta Hiku 14 Luke Yates Leilani Latu 15 Jack Stockwell Viliame Kikau 16 Sam Stone Sitaleki Akauola 17 Jacob Saifiti Moses Leota 18 Jacob Gagan Tim Browne 19 Joe Wardle Dylan Edwards 20 Josh King Corey Harawira 21 Anthony Tupou
Plenty of fullbacks and wingers have been caught in two minds as the ball swerves through the air and they more often than not allow it to bounce. Cleary has done the majority of kicking the opening three rounds for the Panthers as five-eighth Te Maire Martin continues to build his confidence and fitness.
Penrith were unlucky not to beat the Roosters last weekend — referees boss Tony Archer conceded the Roosters scored from a forward pass — and will back themselves to bounce back against the spirited Knights.
Meanwhile, Ryan Girdler and Carl MacNamara last night received life memberships at the club’s AGM.