{"id":741767,"date":"2026-06-17T06:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741767\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T06:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:18:16","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-nathan-cleary-to-receive-injection-to-allow-him-to-play-in-mcg-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741767\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Nathan Cleary to receive injection to allow him to play in MCG clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan Cleary is set be given a painkilling injection in order to play in State of Origin Game 2, as reports emerged about the Penrith star\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

The NSW halfback is integral to Laurie Daley\u2019s team and was named man of the match in the opener.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

So Blues are pulling out all the stops to ensure he plays as the 28-year-old continues to struggle with a hip pointer injury.<\/p>\n

That means he will receive an injection to play at the MCG, according to The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cleary sustained his injury just 15 minutes into the Origin opener after colliding with teammate Addin Fonua-Blake.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe suffered a direct blow to the iliac crest on the pelvic bone, and the abdominal muscles attached to that. There was also a tear to his abdominal core, which the scans confirmed,\u201d Blues\u2019 doctor Nathan Gibbs said.<\/p>\n

The halfback was rested for the Panthers\u2019 win over the Warriors the following weekend before returning for the 68-0 win over the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

But Cleary has still not managed to shake his injury with his bruise \u201cthe size of a soccer ball\u201d, according to Penrith chief physio Pete Green.<\/p>\n

\"Quokka<\/p>\n

Cleary played through the pain barrier with the help of a halftime injection in the opener, even scoring one of NSW\u2019s four tries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know it was Addin\u2019s head at the time [that caused the damage]. All I remember was it was pretty sore. I got to halftime, got it needled and it was sweet,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t coming off. It wasn\u2019t even on my mind. I just hoped, at halftime, the needle would work, and it did. You never want to give away any cues to the opposition. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good we had the week off \u2013 that definitely helped. I\u2019m just lucky to have the physios and medical staff we have at NSW and Penrith \u2013 they put so much work into me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Nathan Cleary injury revelation ahead of State of Origin Game 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary is set be given a painkilling injection in order to play in State of Origin Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-741767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}