Co-captain Isaah Yeo backed Nathan to return this year, while also stating his team would lift without him. Penrith have won seven of 11 games without Cleary this season, largely thanks to the form of Wests Tigers-bound five-eighth Jarome Luai.”We’ve been playing games without Nathan for big chunks of the year because of his hammy,” Yeo said. “That should give us confidence that we know we can do it. Obviously we’ll have to change a little bit but I thought ‘Romey’ (Luai) over that period of time has been really good for us.

“It just means there’s going to have to be individuals who step up. But it certainly hasn’t been new this season. [Cleary] is the most diligent man I know, in terms of that, the confidence will be sky-high, he’ll tick every box for sure.”

Panthers legend Greg Alexander said in commentary for Fox League: “He would be devastated. Not knowing the seriousness of it but it certainly didn’t look good and there was very limited movement in that arm when he left the field, he was keeping it very still. So you would think he’s dislocated it, whether it’s popped back in itself, which it can do, or they had to put it back in which wouldn’t be a good situation.”

Former Lions star Mitch Robinson says he and his family will never go to a Brisbane game again after they were denied entry to his old club’s dressing rooms on Saturday night. Robinson – who played for both Carlton and Brisbane before hanging the boots up in 2022 – watched as the Lions blew the Blues off the park.

Brisbane were incredibly impressive registering a 28-point victory on Saturday night after running out to a huge 60-0 lead in the second term. And wanting to celebrate with his former teammates after the match Robinson went down to the changerooms but he claims he was turned away. Feeling hurt and cheated, the 35-year-old took to X to voice his displeasure.

“Imagine playing and bleeding for a club for eight years, copping copious amounts of head knocks and staples in my face (long-term effects) just to have my family turned away to come down to the rooms after the game to celebrate with my old teammates,” he wrote on X, in a since-deleted post.

“Football is a fake family, just remember that. I’ll never go to a Lions game again.”

However, Brisbane has communicated that Robinson was denied entry by Gabba security staff because he did not have the required accreditation. But the club says he was then issued an accreditation pass by a member of the footy department when it became known he had not been let in. Robinson is understood to have then turned down the offer when a group of friends he was with were denied entry.

Mitch Robinson’s AFL career ended in messy fashion

Robinson had earlier shared photos of him in Lions gear with AFL great Brendan Fevola. And multiple posts on social media depict him supporting Brisbane in several previous matches.

But after being turned away, Robinson says he will not go to another game. The latest development comes after Robinson also shared his disappointment at the way his career ended in Brisbane.

The 35-year-old was delisted at the end of 2022 and no rival club made a move for him, ultimately resulting in Robinson deciding to call time on his career. His tenure at the Lions ended messily after he was denied an opportunity for his retirement to be celebrated by fans and teammates.

Robinson said Lions coach Chris Fagan made it clear that his retirement needed to remain a closely guarded secret heading into the club’s preliminary final loss. And Robinson then went public with his displeasure with his former coach.

“Devastated Fages (Chris Fagan) wouldn’t allow me to announce this in person to the supporters and my teammates, but I guess that’s footy,” he posted. “It’s been an absolute privilege pulling on the Fitzroy and Lions jumper!”

Robinson said he has since fallen out of love with the sport and told SEN radio earlier this year that the handling of his retirement played a major part in that. “That was probably the start of it,” he said.

“The way that all happened and went down was obviously a kick in the nuts and that’s when I was like, you know what, it’s a business, it’s footy, the game that you love. I did fall out of love with the game for about two years before I finished, even though we were successful and doing well, the only thing I loved was game day.” The Lions will play Greater Western Sydney in Saturday’s semi-final, with the prize an MCG preliminary final date with Geelong.

Wayne Bennett‘s Souths rebuild continues to take shape with the Rabbitohs announcing the departure of seven players. Despite Bennett still being in charge of the Dolphins, since agreeing to return to Souths next year as head coach, the super coach has continued to pull strings behind the scenes at Redfern.

After a horror 2024 campaign, Souths need some serious change and fast. Bennett has already signed off on deals to bring Dolphins duo Euan Aitken and Lachlan Hubner with him to Redfern in 2025. And he has also given the all-clear on signings Gerome Burns, Lewis Dodd (St Helens Saints), Jamie Humphreys (Sea Eagles), and Max McCarthy (Sharks) for next season.

However, as well as bringing in some much-needed reinforcements, the Bunnies have also cleared some of their unwanted playing stocks. Veterans Damien Cook (Dragons) and Tom Burgess (Huddersfield) were told to seek pastures new and have signed deals elsewhere. And on Sunday it was announced halfbacks Dean Hawkins and Dion Teaupa, winger Izaac Thompson and forwards Leon Te Hau and Michael Chee-Kam will also be following them out the door.

Chee Kam is reportedly set to join NRL rivals the Sea Eagles, while Hawkins is reportedly in talks with the Eels and Titans. However, Teaupa, Thompson or Te Hau are understood to not have been contacted by any other NRL clubs at this time and find themselves without a club at this stage for 2025.

But Bennett may not be done swinging the axe just yet, with multiple players on Souths’ top 30 roster still unsigned for 2025. The likes of Ben Lovett, Isaiah Tass, Shaquai Mitchell and Taane Milne are all without deals for next year but are not confirmed departures. It is understood there are offers on the table for Tass and Milne but no contract as yet has been offered to Lovett or Milne.

Ben Hornby says Souths will bounce back in a big way in 2025

South Sydney interim coach Ben Hornby believes the Bunnies will bounce back in a big way in 2025. Despite a disastrous season that saw them finish second last after losing seven-straight games to round out the season, Hornby believes the club has the personnel to turn things around next season.

The Rabbitohs have had a very disjointed 2024 campaign, with coach Jason Demetriou sacked just weeks into the season and the club also having to manage without several stars who were sidelined for extended periods. Campbell Graham, Jai Arrow, Junior Tatola and Latrell Mitchell have all spent many weeks out of the side, taking the wind out of their season.

“The ladder is usually pretty fair after the 27 rounds, so we can’t really argue with that,” Hornby said following Souths’ 36-28 defeat to finish the season. “I think you’ve seen that we’ve put in a lot of good efforts. When we had a side that was close to doing what we were capable of, we were winning games.

“Next year, I can’t see why if we’re not somewhere near our full-strength side that we won’t be winning games. We’ve got a lot of really, really good players missing at the moment, so if we get those guys back and do the right thing, the wins will take care of themselves.”

A frustrated Wayne Bennett has renewed calls to scrap the bunker review system after Trai Fuller was denied a try in the 14-6 loss to Newcastle that ended the Dolphins’ NRL finals hopes.

Mature-age rookie Fuller darted over on the left side midway through the first half to score what appeared the opening try of Sunday’s shootout for eighth spot at McDonald Jones Stadium.

But on closer inspection, the bunker ruled Dolphins second-rower Connelly Lemuelu had impacted the outside shoulder of Knights forward Brodie Jones and prevented him from reaching Fuller.

Newcastle ran in the next two tries and ultimately clinched the last spot in the top eight, crushing the Dolphins’ hopes of a maiden finals berth in their second season.

Lemuelu had also contacted Jack Cogger with his run but impacted only the Knights’ five-eighth’s inside shoulder – not grounds for an obstruction because his passage to the ball had not been blocked.

At full-time, Benett suggested it was Cogger who had actually obstructed Jones and not Lemuelu, furious that the try had not stood.

“If that’s where we’re going we’re in a fair bit of trouble because that’s a try every week,” said the outgoing Dolphins coach.

“The three defender (Cogger) committed our player who was running the inside shoulder, which is what he’s supposed to do, and the four defender (Jones) ran into him and they said he (Lemuelu) obstructed him.

“If that’s the case there will be no more of those tries scored.

“The four defender will run straight into the guy running through because he knows he’s going to get a penalty … it’s just crazy. I feel sad for the teams going forward in the next four weeks because someone else is going to pay the price for it.”

An ardent critic of the bunker in the past, Bennett took another swipe at the video review system after his last game before rejoining South Sydney for the 2025 season.

“We get rid of it (the bunker),” he said.

“The refs used to get it wrong in the past, but we got on with life.

“We didn’t analyse it like we’re doing today. (NRL football boss) Graham Annesley gets up every second week and apologises for something that went wrong.”

Bennett insisted his frustration was not due to the result that precluded his side from finals

“I’m not complaining about the fact we got beaten here because it was a tough game. It could have went either way and we both played our hearts out,” he said.

“That’s not the problem.”