But the chance to win a grand final on the ground of the club which showed him the door will be over if scans show he has torn a medial ligament. Panthers officials are hopeful a grade one (sprain) will still give him an outside chance of being fit for the grand final against South Sydney on Sunday night.

Cleary’s biggest worry is with his middle forwards, with fellow prop James Fisher-Harris (knee) also to be sent for scans and Moses Leota (calf), who missed the grand final qualifier, fighting to be fit for the decider.

Cleary could consider rolling the dice and asking Leota to play limited minutes in the grand final, similar to Zane Tetevano in last year’s loss to Melbourne at Stadium Australia. The prop battled a groin problem all week before the Panthers were blown off the park in the first half.

Spencer Leniu is expected to retain his place in the side if Pangai jnr is ruled out, and this week will be nothing new for Cleary to have a compromised preparation as the battle-hardened Panthers chase their first title in 18 years.

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Backline stars Dylan Edwards (foot) and Brian To’o (ankle) didn’t even take part in the captain’s run last week, but soldiered on through lingering problems against the Storm.

One of the players with a relatively clean bill of health, five-eighth Jarome Luai, said the Panthers would learn from their lessons in last year’s grand final loss, when they launched a late comeback against the Storm, who finished the match with 11 men.

“It’s hard to make a GF and we’ve taken a lot of lessons from last year,” Luai said. “We’ll be more ready than we’ve ever been coming into this year. We enjoyed the moment [of beating the Storm], but we remember that feeling from last year. That has motivated us through the whole year. We’re keeping that close to our hearts.

“We spoke about how hard it is to make a GF and not many players get that opportunity. I guess from that perspective, we’re going to enjoy we’re here again.”

NSW five-eighth Luai will lock horns with South Sydney’s Dally M contender Cody Walker, who was brilliant in a two-try performance against Manly in the Rabbitohs’ preliminary final win.

Luai’s meteoric rise kept Walker out of NSW’s No.6 jersey for this year’s State of Origin series, and the 24-year-old was quick to give his rival a huge compliment.

“Personal battles, I love that sort of challenge and mentality,” Luai said. “He’s probably the best five-eighth in the game right now. He played really well last week and we’re going to have to a good job on him. But it’s not [just] about personal battles, I’ve got to do my job for the team.”

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