{"id":109690,"date":"2021-08-01T03:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T03:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=109690"},"modified":"2021-08-01T03:57:05","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T03:57:05","slug":"inside-nrls-chaos-after-lockdown-bombshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=109690","title":{"rendered":"Inside NRL's chaos after lockdown bombshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Injured Penrith captain Nathan Cleary<\/a> has given an insight into the chaos that came with Queensland's lockdown on Saturday, which resulted in a number of fixtures being shifted.<\/p>\n

The Queensland government's call on Saturday morning wiped out all three of Saturday's fixtured NRL matches<\/a>, with the Panthers' grand final rematch against the Storm postponed to Sunday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch the Panthers vs Storm NRL grand final rematch live and free on Nine from 4pm AEST, or follow via our <\/strong><\/em>Match Centre<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Cleary explained how the players had been hastily called off the training track as the NRL scrambled to keep the season alive.<\/p>\n

"Yesterday was one of the craziest days ever," he told Nine's The Sunday Footy Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"We were sitting around just after breakfast and we found out about Queensland going into a lockdown. We thought it was a good thing to try and halt the spread of COVID up here, but we never really thought the game was going to be off.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

"Us boys who weren't playing were just in the middle of a warm-up getting ready to train and we just got called in saying pretty much that we've got to amend straight away and we couldn't be training and there was a good chance the game wouldn't be on.<\/p>\n

"We rushed back to the team room and had a meeting, we thought we were going to be off to Townsville to play the game, then we were just waiting around and eventually we got told we weren't playing.<\/p>\n

"I think the NRL did a great job to get the games back on today. There's a lot of people out there in lockdown at the moment bored at home and they all love their footy, so kudos to the NRL for getting it on today."<\/p>\n

Cleary is still sidelined from a right shoulder injury he suffered while representing New South Wales<\/a> in this year's State of Origin series, and is still without a definitive timeline on his return.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Honestly, I don't really have a set return date yet," he said.<\/p>\n

"Rehab is going really well, but there's still a few boxes to tick until I can get back out on the field and feel fully confident. Hopefully it's within the next few weeks."<\/p>\n

While their star man is sidelined, he believes there is a big opportunity for players on the fringes to stake their claim in the coming weeks, starting with Sunday's clash against the Storm.<\/p>\n

"I think it's a really good opportunity. Obviously with Tevita Pangai coming into the squad now<\/a> as well, there's going to be limited spots especially on that bench and through the middle there," he said.<\/p>\n

"There's a few guys coming in today that can really put their hand up to deserve a spot in the final 17. There's still plenty of talent on the team and plenty of belief."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Injured Penrith captain Nathan Cleary has given an insight into the chaos that came with Queensland's lockdown on Saturday, which resulted in a number of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109692,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690\/revisions\/109692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}