Nothing untoward in tackle that injured Cleary: King

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Nothing untoward in tackle that injured Cleary: King

Melbourne prop Josh King says the tackle that aggravated Nathan Cleary’s shoulder injury was like any other, refuting suggestions the Penrith halfback had been the victim of a wrestling move.

It comes as coach Craig Bellamy revealed the Storm had not yet finalised whether Lazarus Vaalepu or Joe Chan would replace the suspended Nelson Asofa-Solomona in Sunday’s NRL grand final against the Panthers.

King ***** the tackle that forced Cleary to leave the field during the Panthers’ round-24 loss to the Storm which led to a highly publicised three weeks of rehabilitation in the run-in to the finals series.

The Panthers were reportedly privately unhappy with King for reaching over Cleary’s shoulder and inadvertently causing the injury as the half attempted to regain his footing.

The Storm have historically come under ***** for slowing the ruck down with so-called wrestling tactics, but King denied he had this intention in his tackle of Cleary.

“I certainly wasn’t trying to do any wrestling moves or anything like that, that people have come out and said,” he said at Thursday’s grand-final fan day at Circular Quay in Sydney.

“I would assume that that sort of tackle would happen multiple times a game. I don’t think there was anything in it and I certainly don’t have any grievances against Nathan.

“It is what it is.”

Cleary held no ill will towards King for aggravating the shoulder issue he had first suffered in the pre-season.

“It was one of those unlucky positions,” said Cleary, who has since resumed full-contact training.

“It’s just an injury. It was unfortunate. A lot of things have to happen and it’s a contact sport so I don’t even think about it like that.”

Cleary starred in the two wins that locked up a 2020 grand-final rematch against the Storm, who cannot afford to give the superstar half as long a leash as Cronulla or the Sydney Roosters did.

Asked whether he would target Cleary’s shoulder, King said putting pressure on ball-carriers was part of the forward pack’s remit.

“I think both sides’ forwards have the job to get the teams going forward,” he said.

“I don’t think there are any secrets about that.”

It ******** to be seen which player will join the Storm’s pack after the NRL judiciary upheld a grade-three careless high tackle charge handed to Asofa-Solomona for his shot on Lindsay Collins.

With only six first-grade games to his name, Vaalepu looked set to become the equal least-experienced grand finalist of the NRL era when he was named on the Storm’s bench on Tuesday.

But Bellamy indicated fellow forward Chan remained in the hunt to make a late charge into the 17 at Accor Stadium.

“We probably still haven’t made that decision properly yet,” he said.

“We need to see how we go at training today and whatever. Both those guys have played really well in the NSW Cup, I think Laz actually plays Queensland Cup.

“They’ve both played really well but with Nelson gone, we have to put someone in there. They’re the next two in line.”

The Panthers will continue to take a wait-and-see approach to Scott Sorensen’s fitness as the second-rower looks to overcome a hamstring injury in time for his first game of the finals series.

“He’s getting through everything he needs to at the moment,” said Panthers coach Ivan Cleary.

“We’ve still got a couple of sessions to go. We’ll give him every chance but we’re not going to take a risk there either. We’ll see how he goes.”

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