CRONULLA skipper Paul Gallen insists he will not be among the Sharks who run out onto Carrington Park this afternoon to take on Penrith, but rival coach Ivan Cleary thinks otherwise.
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Gallen tore his upper right bicep in the Sharks’ loss to Newcastle a fortnight ago and it was initially feared the NSW and Kangaroos representative would miss the rest of the NRL season.
Scans revealed he would not need surgery, but he missed last week’s 36-18 loss to the Cowboys and has not been listed in the side to take on Penrith.
Still, Cleary expects to see the Sharks’ enigmatic leader pull on the number 13 jumper today.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Cleary said when asked if he thought Gallen would play.
“I think we are expecting them to have a pretty good side whoever plays. They have quite a few guys that play similarly [to Gallen], but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns up.”
On Thursday acting Sharks captain Wade Graham said Gallen was doing everything he could to be fit for the Bathurst match.
“He’s trying his hardest to convince the physios to let him go [play],” Graham said.
“Obviously he’s a massive bonus every time we have him play and he brings all the boys confidence – myself included.
“I’d love to see him back as soon as possible, hopefully this weekend.”
However, yesterday morning Gallen told the Big Sports Breakfast that he would not be a surprise inclusion.
“I won’t play again this week. So it’s a little bit frustrating,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to probably half a dozen other players who have done a similar injury and they’ve all torn the bicep tendon off the bone.
“I’ve actually torn my muscle off the tendon, which the specialist I saw and even my physio said it’s the first one they’ve seen.
“So we’ve got to treat it a bit more like a muscle tear rather than just the tendon coming off.
“Doing everyday things is fine. That’s why I wanted to play last week. But as soon as I do something with an explosive movement or reach out to grab something, that’s when it feels like it’s ripping again.”
While Cronulla lose an 80-minute player with a massive workload when Gallen is missing, they still have the players within their ranks to make Cleary nervous.
Even without Gallen they have strength in their pack, with the likes of Andrew Fifita and Sam Tagataese to start as prop. The Panthers coach also rates their back row of Graham, former Penrith star Luke Lewis and lock Anthony Tupou.
“They’ve got a great back row; Lewis, Tupo and Wade Graham has been pretty effective as well, so pretty strong side,” Cleary said.
The two sides are set to do battle from 3pm this afternoon at Carrington Park.