Veteran playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans says it was “really difficult” to watch Nathan Cleary suffer a catastrophic injury in Sunday’s preliminary final, with the Roosters star sending his love and thoughts to Cleary’s family.

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The Panthers superstar suffered a compound fracture of the ankle after his foot was trapped in a Phoenix Crossland hip-drop tackle that saw the Knights hooker sent off.

Cleary’s foot was facing the wrong way, with players from both sides lending their support as he was taken from the field on a medi-cab.

Cherry-Evans and Cleary played a couple of games together for Australia at the 2022 World Cup, while they’ve had some memorable battles over the years at club level and in the Origin arena.

The legendary playmaker was shattered to see the Panthers champion carted from the field and said it was equally difficult seeing Ivan Cleary and the rest of his family try to process things while he also had to coach a preliminary final.

“Of the parts that I did see of that game yesterday, that was one of them. It was really difficult to watch,” Cherry-Evans said.

“I’m sending out all my love to him and his recovery process. I hope it goes really smoothly.

“I watch it through the lens sometimes as a dad, and watching his dad up in the coach’s box, I just could not believe how he would be able to sit there, compose himself and coach a side when his son has just had a pretty rough injury.

“That’s where my thoughts go; I think that’s not just tough on Nathan, but really tough on his family. I definitely send all my love out to him and the family.”

Cleary had emergency surgery on Sunday night and will miss the upcoming World Cup, with fears the injury will take several months to recover from given the traumatic nature of the bone piercing through the skin.

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Nathan Cleary suffers compound fracture | 01:02

But is has since emerged that Cleary’s other foot was already broken after he hurt it in the qualifying final win over the Roosters a fortnight earlier.

The club was coy on the severity and ended up naming him to start on the bench, with Cleary coming on after 25 minutes to replace Jack Cogger.

Panthers legend Greg Alexander defended the decision to bring Cleary on when they did, with some calls for the halfback to only play if the minor premiers were chasing points at the end.

“Why would you keep him on ice?” Alexander asked on SEN.

“If he got through a training session, why would you roll the dice and go ‘Oh we might win when you’ve got Nathan on the bench’.

“I agree, keep him out of the opening 20 minutes, you’re not going to lose the game in the opening 20 minutes. You’re not going to win it either.

“And I thought he was only on the field for 10 minutes, so 26th minute to the 36th minute. I thought he was playing well and didn’t look like he was affected by the foot.”

Cleary is expected to win his first Dally M Medal on Wednesday night after he claimed the Brad Fittler and Wally Lewis Medals for leading NSW to a famous State of Origin series victory.

BIG WIN AFTER KNIGHTS FANS AFTER TRAIN CHAOS

Peter V’landys to the rescue.

Just days after officially being appointed as the NRL’s first executive chairman, V’landys has quickly got to work by securing a big win for Newcastle fans ahead of Sunday’s grand final.

V’landys called NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday morning according to the Sydney Morning Herald and has successfully had planned trackwork between Newcastle and Wyong on Sunday postponed.

Knights fans already had to contend with delayed travel on the train network ahead of the Panthers game when an issue with a freight train at Warnervale halted services.

Then, it was revealed that there were plans for buses to replace trains between Newcastle and Wyong on grand final day. Under the previous plan, trains would run between Wyong and Central but some would be to a changed timetable.

That, however, was scrapped with the scheduled works moved to another day.

“Chris Minns is one of the most can-do people you’ll ever see,” V’landys told the Herald.

“If it’s possible, he’ll get it done. And he wasn’t going to let 30,000-plus Newcastle fans down, so he immediately rearranged the trackwork.

“The NRL and Newcastle fans cannot be more appreciative of that action.”