Jarome Luai of the Penrith Panthers dislocates his shoulder on the eve of the NRL finals, as the Parramatta Eels win convincingly.
The Panthers have been dealt a big setback only two weeks before the NRL playoffs, with five-eighth Jarome Luai dislocating his shoulder in Parramatta’s 32-18 win on Thursday night.
Maiko Sivo’s four tries, including a hat-trick in the first half, and two Clint Gutherson tries either side of half-time helped the Eels quiet a sold-out Panthers stadium of 21,525 fans.
Tyrone Peachy, Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin, and Tom Jenkins all scored for the Panthers, but with three of those goals coming in the final quarter of an hour, they were merely consolation.
The Panthers’ biggest issue will be Luai’s availability for the finals.
As he attempted to dive over and score a try, Luai slid awkwardly on his outstretched left arm, with the Eels’ Bryce Cartwright tackling him to keep him upright over the line.
The five-eighth left the field immediately, and while Fox Sports stated that the shoulder was returned to the sheds, the 28-year-old will be out for the remainder of the season, with the finals starting in two weeks.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary called the injury “decent” and said he wouldn’t speculate on the severity until his playmaker had scans, but training staff were “fairly optimistic about the potential of it.”
“We’ll know a little bit more tomorrow,” he promised.
“At this time of year, there are often a lot of injuries in and around finals.”
“Whatever happens we’ll come up with a plan from there.”
With Luai off the field until the last phases of the game, the Panthers looked completely lost in attack and were easily picked off in defense, albeit rested fullback Dylan Edwards will return to help the club.
“It’s pretty embarrassing to be honest,” a displeased Nathan Cleary admitted to ABC Sport.
“I can’t recall the last time we put on a show like that.”
“We simply did not win enough moments tonight when things were not going well.” We didn’t show enough tenacity.”
Parramatta, on the other hand, put their poor season behind them with a stunning performance, halting Penrith’s eight-match winning streak and paving the way for Brisbane to win the minor premiership.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because we’re going to miss the finals by a game,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said after the game.
“At the very least, we fought until the bitter end… It’s preferable to conclude this way.”
“We came to play,” Eels halfback Dylan Brown said, according to ABC Sport.
“It’s the only thing you can do to finish off a disappointing season, go out with a bang.”
Penrith conceded the opening points for the second week in a row, with Sivo burrowing over after just three minutes due to a superb throw out the back from Dylan Brown on the left touchline.
The Eels, while not mathematically out of the finals, are a near certainty to drop out, with coach Brad Arthur promising “a bit of fight and passion” in the build-up, and his team definitely delivered right from the start.
Ryan Matterson dropped the ball over the line under pressure from debutant fullback Jesse McLean, and Parramatta should have had another within the first ten minutes.
Daejarn Asi broke free from a poor tackle by Moses Leota and offloaded to Matterson, who could have done better.
The Panthers opened the scoring with a beautiful left-side play finished by Tyrone Peachey, but Nathan Cleary missed the kick.
The Eels responded quickly, with Sivo leaping over in the corner for his second.
He was also caught high by youngster McClean, who was arrested for swinging his arm, and Parramatta were granted an eight-point try.
Gutherson, though, missed the sideline kick and had to settle for the penalty under the posts, giving the Eels a 12-4 lead.
But, after 23 minutes, Sivo had another, a straightforward move down the left to complete his hat-trick.
The Panthers attempted to respond through Luai, but he was injured as Cartwright held him up as he dived for the line, causing him to land on his arm inadvertently.
“He’ll most likely receive scans tomorrow… “I’m hoping he’ll be fine,” Nathan Cleary said to ABC Sport.
The Eels are likely to become only the second team in the last decade to miss the finals after winning the grand final the year before, although they continued to dominate throughout the season.
Gutherson, who appeared to have a leg injury, managed to step and slip through to score just before halftime.
Following a severe half-time team talk, the Panthers went 72 yards in the first set only to throw up a penalty to negate those gains.
Gutherson added his second goal, a Daejarn Asi tap-down after a pinpoint Dylan Brown punt, to make it 28-4.
Penrith huffed and puffed in the second half, but lacked the spark to break down the notoriously porous Eels defense until Nathan Cleary pounced on a short goalline drop out with 14 minutes remaining to cut the score in half.
Gutherson exited the field with a right knee injury shortly after scoring, turning the tide even more in favor of the two-time reigning champions.
But Sivo scored his fourth try in the closing ten minutes from a well-worked scrum to win the victory, despite Martin’s try at the finish, which was quickly followed by another consolation from Jenkins.
