“Massive apologies for tonight,” he wrote on Instagram. “Filthy at myself for such a dumb moment that let the boys and the fans down. I’m not about that, it was terrible technique and I need to be better.”
Nathan Cleary’s Instagram apology.Credit:Instagram
The Panthers are already without five-eighth with Jarome Luai who is sidelined for a similar timeframe with a knee injury.
Sean O’Sullivan and Jaeman Salmon are likely to get the nod as the back-up halves moving forward, and the pair did well in the second half against the Eels, who led 30-4 at half-time but failed to put the foot on the throat in a 34-10 win.
Parramatta five-eighth Brown was able to bounce to his feet and finish the game. He knew Cleary was shattered and needed no reminding of what a dangerous position he placed him in.
The fact Brown was able to finish the game was taken into consideration by the match review committee.
“I’m fine,” Brown said. “Obviously it was a shit tackle, but I got up feeling sweet.
“Obviously it hurt a bit, but once I was up I was fine. Hopefully ‘Nath’ knows I’m sweet. I didn’t see him after the game, although I know if I was to do a tackle like you worry about the player.
“When I got up I didn’t know how bad it was – you don’t really know when you’re getting tipped upside down.
“Then I looked up and [spotted the replay] and thought, ‘That’s a couple of weeks [suspension]’. I came out of it pretty lucky. Who knows, hopefully he isn’t charged too badly.
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“He said sorry straight away.
“We play each other to hurt each other, but legally. I’m sure he had no intentions of doing that, and I’ve got no hard feelings.”
Brown said he landed on his back – not his head – and “my neck is fine”.
“Penrith are a good team, they showed in the second half they are still a good side; they took it up another gear in that second half,” Brown said. “I don’t know what Ivan said to them, but it obviously worked.”
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary accepted his son was looking at a stretch on the sidelines.
“I think he will be missing for a bit; I don’t know how long, but based on other examples this year, it’s probably likely. He feels like he’s let everyone down,” Cleary said.
“I looked at the incident then, it was a two-man tackle that turned into a one-man tackle. That had something to do with it. At the end of the day, he ended up in a position we don’t want. Being sent from the field, we can’t argue with that.
“He didn’t mean to do it. He’s done a fair bit for our team over the years. I know ‘Nat’ pretty well and this will fuel his fire for later.”
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