- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Storm have suffered a major blow out of their win over the Panthers, with Jahrome Hughes sustaining a broken hand sustained in the collision with Nathan Cleary that saw the Penrith captain concussed.
Hughes appeared to have escaped serious injury after a leaping Cleary collided with him during the opening minutes of the Storm’s 30-24 win over the Panthers, playing out the game after brief medical attention.
However, Storm officials grew concerned enough about Hughes’ hand to send him for scans on Friday morning, whichc confirmed the injury.
Hughes will have surgery on Saturday, and is expected to miss two matches.
The injury adds to a growing casualty ward for the Storm as the count the cost of their grand final rematch win, with winger Nick Meaney suffering a facial fractured in a friendly fire head clash with teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona, while Eliesa Katoa and Grant Anderson are dealing with knee concerns.
Meaney will miss 4-6 weeks, while Asofa-Solomona has entered the NRL’s concussion protocols and will miss at least one.
Front-rower Francis Molo may not join the Dolphins after all for the rest of season and next year after dramas with the early exit deal from St George Illawarra.
The 30-year-old was due to link with former coach Kristian Woolf who was a Broncos assistant when he made his NRL debut in 2014 after a tumultuous two months.
Molo had taken a leave of absence from Dragons training since early this year after taking umbrage with a comment from an assistant coach.
But now St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan has declared they will take him back after the deal has been delayed because the Dolphins want to pay a transfer fee but the Dragons are insisting Molo pays the money himself to negotiate a release.
As part of Molo’s exit, he had to pay a termination fee with the prop to pay back a sizeable sum to the Dragons. But the Dolphins want to pay the money on behalf of Molo to secure his services but that would mean an extra $100,000 would go on St George Illawarra’s salary cap and they have dug in their heels.
“I don’t want Frank to go,” Flanagan told NewsCorp on Thursday.
“Part of the settlement is that he pays the money back, so if he has signed a new contract with the Dolphins, he can’t do that if he hasn’t paid the money to us. In the end, if it gets resolved, we will move on.”
Molo’s manager Wade Rushton had earlier claimed the move to the Dolphins was “not about money” and all about playing for a club where he had a strong relationship with the coaching staff and felt he could thrive as a man and footballer.
Molo’s contract dispute had proven a constant headache for the Dragons as they were unable to sign a replacement for their most powerful prop given their top-30 roster was full.
Club officials at one stage approached the NRL for help on how to handle the matter, but were unable to secure dispensation.
They eventually released winger Mikaele Ravalawa to South Sydney for the rest of the season last week, allowing them to sign former Test prop David Klemmer.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
But Molo’s exit will clear significant salary cap space, given he was on a deal in the vicinity of $550,000 per year for both 2025 and 2026.
Flanagan is also monitoring the situation at Manly with Daly Cherry-Evans unsigned for next year although he believes the club stalwart will stick with the Sea Eagles if he chooses to play on.
“Daly’s a great player but I think he should stay at Manly,” he said. “It’s one thing to have some money available but it depends what’s on the market.
“If you want someone for this year, then they will want another year, but sometimes players become available, so we’ll just see what happens.”
The long-standing love-hate relationship has continued between Melbourne’s Cameron Munster and Liam Martin, with the Penrith enforcer coming out on top at AAMI Park.
While Munster’s Storm got the competition points from their NRL grand final rematch on Thursday night with a 30-24 victory, the star playmaker was involved in two incidents with the gun Panthers second-rower.
The Melbourne five-eighth was penalised and put on report in the 29th minute for an alleged hip-drop tackle as he tried to bring a rampaging Martin to ground, with the Penrith player left clutching at his ankle.
Then with three minutes left on the clock and the Panthers hunting a try to take the game into golden point, Munster was penalised again, unnecessarily rough-housing his rival after he knocked on.
The Storm No.6 said he was disappointed in his actions but didn’t believe it was worth a penalty.
“I’m still a bit sceptical on the penalty, to be honest,” Munster said.
“I think there was nothing in it, I’ve seen him do worse, I’ve seen players in the game do a lot worse but I’m pretty disappointed with it because it could have changed the game and made it a draw and then we could have gone the extra time.”
Munster also said there was no malice in the first-half tackle and blamed the slippery conditions.
“I tried to get my arm around his legs but it was a wet field out there and it was slippery.
“It didn’t look great but I feel like I wasn’t putting all my weight into his legs, I felt like I tried to wrap my arm around him and, unfortunately, he was just big and strong and it just looked ugly but hopefully, fingers crossed, we can get off.”
The pair have a storied history, with the Maroons team labelling the Blues back-rower a “grub” during the 2023 year’s Origin series.
Two years earlier in Origin I, Munster was fined for kicking Martin as he lay on the Townsville turf.
During the build-up to last year’s grand final Munster told reporters that the Kangaroos teammates “didn’t really like each other in Aussie camp”, which was news to Martin.
Munster’s mum Debbie even got involved, telling her son to make up with the Penrith ace. Munster insisted it was all good fun.
“It’s always fun with Marto – he’s a great quality back-rower, one of the best in the game and it’s always good to go up against him and see where you’re at,” he said. “We like a little bit of niggle between each other.”
with AAP
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.