Panthers’ new star
Cleary’s fill-in at half has cracker of a game
IT’S a good thing next Wednesday’s State of Origin is the third and last of the series.
No question, Penrith and Blues star Nathan Cleary is the hottest young halfback in the NRL right now.
But still, he wouldn’t want to give Jarome Luai too many more chances to show what he’s capable of.
In one of the most stunning starting debuts seen by a young half in the NRL in a long, long time, the 21-yearold local junior was inspirational in Penrith’s shock and thunderous 326-4 flogging of a near full strength Warriors last night.
With Cleary along with James Maloney and Tyrone Peachey in NSW camp preparing for the big game in Brisbane, Luai stole the show in an outstanding win.
But all over the field it was a super impressive performance from Anthony Griffin’s side, with the 17-man squad the youngest and most inexperienced fielded in the NRL this year. Luai finished with two cracking solo tries and for one he beat five defenders, while he helped set up two more and kicked six goals from eight attempts.
His only previous NRL appearance was 20 minutes off the bench against Newcastle earlier in the season.
Labelled by some at the Panthers as a better prospect than Cleary at a young age, in Channel 9 commentary Peter Sterling likened Luai to Canterbury’s 1991 Rothmans Medal winning halfback Ewen McGrady and it was a pretty fair call given his livewire effort.
Lock James Fisher-Harris was outstanding while Trent Merrin and James Tamou did a great job up front.