Melbourne Storm have been burned before by targeting an injured player, won’t go after Nathan Cleary

Melbourne Storm captain Harry Grant says his team has no interest in putting extra focus on Penrith star Nathan Cleary’s injured shoulder in Sunday’s NRL grand final.

Storm’s own gun No.7, Jahrome Hughes, said memories of focusing too much on an injured Cooper Cronk in the 2018 grand final loss were enough for Storm not to be bitten twice.

Amid suggestions that Cleary’s shoulder, which he first injured against Storm in their round 24 clash, could pop out any time during Sunday’s decider, Grant was clear there was no extra target on the Penrith captain.

“No, not at all. I think, you know, we don’t need to focus on one player and Nathan and his shoulder,” Grant said on Monday morning

“I think he’s shown in recent weeks, in recent years, the class player he is and how he performs, whether he’s under a bit of an injury cloud, or in these big games.

“He’s shown that the last few weeks, his performances, and we won’t expect anything different, so we’re not going out to target him or handle him any different to we normally would.”

Cleary clutched at his troublesome left shoulder late in Saturday’s preliminary final win over Cronulla that propelled the reigning premiers into a staggering fifth consecutive grand final.

Despite finishing the game on the bench, Cleary was adamant post game that his shoulder was fine, even raising his arm to show he was not inhibited.

His battle with Hughes, who could be crowned the 2024 Dally M medallist on Wednesday night, looms as a blockbuster showdown between the best player this year and arguably the best player in the game.

 

It’s why Hughes said thinking Cleary would be susceptible, as Melbourne thought with former star Cronk when he was a shock inclusion in the 2018 decider with the Sydney Roosters, playing with a fractured scapula, would be folly.

Cameron Munster, who played in that 2018 clash, even said the move “backfired” on Melbourne as the Roosters romped to a 21-6 victory.

“I think if we focus too much on him and his injury, then I think that’s not going to go well for us,” Hughes said.

“I think a few of the boys played in the ’18 grand final. I think they bring up that they probably focused on Cooper too much, more than they needed to, and probably it came back to bite them.

“So we’ve fully learned from that as a club, and we probably won’t be looking at that too much and be more focusing on what we could do as a team to be better.”