Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has lauded the courage of his bruised and battered squad, revealing that fullback Dylan Edwards played the NRL grand final with a broken foot.
Edwards' health was a major talking point in the lead-up to Sunday night's decider, with the 25-year-old seen in a moon boot and on crutches on the morning of the match.
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However, not only did Penrith's No.1 play every single second of his side's 14-12 win over South Sydney, he racked up an incredible 217 metres in the process.
After claiming his first premiership in three grand final appearances as an NRL coach, Cleary revealed the true injury status of a number of his Panthers stars.
"I just can't rap the boys enough. The courage that these boys have shown, we really couldn't train the last three weeks as a team, so many guys not training ... I think it's purely on courage that these boys have won this," he said.
"I reckon there was at least five that probably shouldn't have been playing today. I don't say that lightly. It was a calculated risk on a lot of boys.
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"I actually woke up at 2am this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep because I was thinking, 'My god, honestly three or four of them could be gone by ten minutes [into the grand final].'
"But it was calculated and they just refused not to play. Fish [James Fisher-Harris], Moses [Leota], Dyl Edwards.
"Dyl Edwards, oh my god, he's had a broken foot for like a month. He has not trained, walked around on crutches every week and then goes out and plays. I don't understand how that can happen but it just sums up the bond.
"We've had a lot of guys play injured throughout the season, Bizza [Brian To'o] in particular played twice with a syndesmosis injury and never came off. I remember Tyrone May doing his MCL badly twice and kept playing.
"They just created this culture of unfortunately no one wanted to be the one to put their hand up and say they can't play. It's hard for me to explain, it's incredible."
Joining the quintet of Panthers stars in the casualty ward will be Clive Churchill Medallist Nathan Cleary, who will require off-season shoulder surgery after he initially picked up the injury during the mid-year State of Origin series.
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-grand-final-2021-ivan-cleary-reveals-penrith-panthers-dylan-edwards-played-with-broken-foot/84397131-85d7-40f9-bec6-1094447860a1
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