'Just a little bump': Nathan Cleary brushes off 'training scare' as Panthers reach grand final

Penrith are into their fifth straight grand final, defeating a gallant Sharks side in the second preliminary final.

The reigning premiers led 10-6 with 20 minutes to go as it looked like the Sharks could pull off an upset.

But the class of the Panthers shone through, winning 26-6 to set up the chance for an unbelievable four-peat in a game Nathan Cleary failed to finish due to an injury scare.

AS IT HAPPENED: NRL Preliminary Final Saturday

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After penalty goals to both sides in the first 20 minutes, the first try finally came for Paul Alamoti.

Cleary would kick another penalty goal right on half-time as the Panthers lead 10-2.

The second half was then a grind after the break until Sione Katoa pulled off one of those most spectacular tries of the finals series.

Penrith then showed why they've won three premierships in a row, putting together two tries in three minutes when Brian To'o and Alamoti scored.

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now. 

There was some concern for Cleary late in the match when he clutched at his shoulder with 10 minutes left.

"This is huge," Andrew Johns said on Nine.

However, Cleary managed to play on before Brad Schneider replaced him with six minutes left which looked to be precautionary.

Cleary played the match with heavy taping around his right wrist, with Phil Gould revealing there may have been an injury scare during training.

"It was suspected he might have a broken right hand ... it doesn't seemed to have inconvenienced him, but put a bit of a scare through the camp I believe," he said.

Speaking in the post-game press conference, Cleary denied there was any major issue with his hand and shut down concerns over his shoulder as well.

"Nah, it's not broken," he said with a smile.

"It's just a little bump - it's that time of year, but it's all good. 

"It's all good [shoulder injury], just a little knock at the end but I ended up playing out the next two sets and it felt fine. It was always gonna be one of those things, it probably wasn't amazing or 100 per cent, but I definitely felt confident.

"Tonight was fine, i wasn't even thinking about it. Even after that little incident, I played the next two sets and was sweet. 

The halfback finished the match with three try assists, two line break assists and a line break himself, cementing himself as one of the NRL's best big-game players.

Before full-time, second-rower Liam Martin put the icing on the cake, finishing off a Jarome Luai grubber as the Panthers landed a spot in the grand final.