Unsurprisingly, Newcastle coach Justin Holbrook isn’t too upset by the benching of Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary.
However, Holbrook was quick to say that they couldn’t think too much about it. Here are his comments from Fox.
“I’m OK with it, that’s for sure [Cleary benching]. We haven’t over-emphasised him as a player – they won’t change the way they play,” Holbrook said.
“As usual, most of the focus is on ourselves and improving on last week. But yeah, we’re OK with that.”
Speaking on how Penrith like to dominate and set the agenda for the match, Holbrook said they wouldn’t be bullied into playing how the Panthers want this afternoon.
“They like to dictate the game, and I think our style doesn’t let them do that,” Holbrook said.
“We don’t need to change anything or play any differently, but even with him [Cleary] not playing or coming off the bench, they’ve won plenty of games without him in years gone by. They’re not going to lose a lot – obviously, he’s a great player – but for us, we just want to make sure we play our footy.”
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