The lengths Penrith went to on Sunday night to beat Souths stunned coach Ivan Cleary, who revealed one star’s mind-boggling secret.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary hailed his battered and bruised players after their Grand Final win on Sunday night, revealing star fullback Dylan Edwards had been playing with a broken foot for a month.
A number of Panthers players came into the finals under injury clouds, none more so than Edwards and winger Brian To’o, who was nursing an ankle issue.
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Courageous victories against the Eels and the Storm appeared to have taken their toll on Edwards, after he was snapped in the lead-up to the Grand Final walking on crutches and with a boot on his right foot.
But a valiant effort from the 25-year-old helped the Panthers ending their 18-year wait for a premiership, and Cleary couldn’t speak highly enough of the bravery on display from his wounded soldiers.
“I just can’t rap the boys enough,” Cleary said. “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.
“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.
“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 10 minutes into the game)’.
“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.”
What makes Edwards’ feat of playing the full 80 minutes with a broken foot even crazier is that he chalked up 217 running metres in the Panthers’ 14-12 victory over the Rabbitohs.
The Panthers escaped with the chocolates when departing Bunnies star Adam Reynolds missed a sideline conversion after Alex Johnston crossed over for a try in the left corner. A failed attempt at a two-point field goal just before the buzzer sealed the result.
A Nathan Cleary penalty goal was all that separated the two sides, as the Panthers halfback also went on to earn the honour of winning the Clive Churchill Medal for the best on ground in the decider.