The scars of Cooper Cronk’s 2018 grand final performance might run deeper at Melbourne than the famed 15-centimetre crack in his shoulder blade. Or it might be yet another grand final hustle. The Storm never got near Cronk six years ago as he claimed yet another premiership ring without a single run into contact and one functioning arm.
And this week Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant all referenced the night Melbourne missed its mark when asked about targeting Nathan Cleary’s own suspect shoulder in Sunday’s decider. “It would probably backfire on us,” Munster said. Hughes recalled ex-teammates telling him they “focused on Cooper too much, more than they needed to, and it probably came back to bite them”.
Grant also referenced Cleary’s truly impressive return this finals series, dismantling the Roosters, slow-boiling the Sharks and making 37 tackles across the two games, suspect shoulder and all. Cleary’s dislocated joint is not in the same realm as Cronk’s car crash injury of 2018, or his own torn rotator cuff tendon in 2021. Nathan Cleary’s shoulder popped out the last time he played Melbourne.
Credit: Getty Images But it does require off-season surgery and back-up half Brad Schneider being retained on Penrith’s bench as emergency cover. And even if it wasn’t that rough, Cronk and Immortal halfback Andrew Johns both see targeting not just Cleary, but any playmaker, as a critical component of any winning Storm game plan. Not least beca.
