He won’t have a Mal Meninga-size guard on his forearm but Melbourne Storm star Jahrome Hughes is set to play in the club’s preliminary final at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Hughes fractured his forearm in the last round of the season and seemed long odds to be able to return in time for the finals.
Mal Meninga, right, sports his armguard after winning the 1989 ARL grand final with Canberra.Credit: Getty Images
But the reigning Dally M Medallist has recovered quicker than expected and Storm coach Craig Bellamy is confident Hughes will play on Friday night against Cronulla, unless any last-minute issues arise.
Returning Hughes to the side will mean rising halfback Jonah Pezet will likely drop out after starring in their qualifying final win over Canterbury-Bankstown two weeks ago.
Unless something flares up for Hughes, Bellamy said he would be running out against the Cronulla Sharks despite having not completed “a whole heap” of contact work.
“He’s done enough to be confident in what he needs to do and what he is doing,” Bellamy said.
“Something drastic would have to go wrong for him to miss.”
Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes.Credit: Getty Images
Bellamy laughed when asked if Hughes would need a large guard Meninga wore for the Canberra Raiders in the 1990s when Bellamy was also on the team.
Meninga’s oversized guard became the stuff of legend but wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a footy field today.
“I was at Canberra when Mal used to wear that guard and no one was game to near him at training in case you copped it,” Bellamy said with a laugh. “But Hughesy’s [guard] is a fair bit thinner than Mal’s was.”
Storm star Jahrome Hughes trains with his new forearm guard on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
Bellamy also praised the toughness of second-rower Shawn Blore who will also return from a fractured larynx to play on Friday night.
“That’s a pretty bad injury he got and he kept going in the game – he’s a pretty tough unit,” Bellamy said.
“He was busting to get back. He kept ringing me and telling me that “I’m right, I’m right” but, obviously, I’m taking more advice from the medical people than him. We are confident he has recovered.”
The Storm thumped the Sharks 30-6 when they last met at AAMI Park in June but the Sharks have won nine games out of 10 since including knockout final wins over Sydney Roosters and minor premiers Canberra Raiders.
So the Sharks will come in fired up as will a sellout crowd hoping to see the Storm progress to another grand final.
“I don’t know who wrote them off. They finished fifth,” Bellamy said. “To beat the Roosters and then beat Canberra in Canberra – we know they are in good form, but we are just concerned with what we need to do and how we need to do it.”
The Storm hammered the Sharks but it kick-started Cronulla’s season
Roy Ward
The last time Cronulla trudged off AAMI Park they were at their lowest point of the season.
Since that 30-6 round 17 loss to the Storm, the Sharks have won nine of 10 games, including two knockout finals, and are now just one win away from the NRL grand final.
The only problem is that the team standing between them and the NRL decider is the Storm, who they take on at AAMI Park in a preliminary final on Friday night.
Sharks playmaker Braydon Trindall remembers that night in June well, and how it galvanised his team to turn their season around.
“I think we were all just sick of letting the year slip away from us,” Trindall recalled on Wednesday. “So we sat down and had a good talk about it and went out on the field and changed some of the actions that were hurting us.
“I think it was more of a club thing and everyone wanted to put in a bit more, and now look where we are.”
The Storm hammered the Sharks last time they met in Melbourne.Credit: Getty Images
Trindall has carried an eye issue through recent games after taking a knock against the Sydney Roosters earlier in the finals, but while there is some visible blood, he said it had no impact on his vision.
“I copped a boot against the Roosters, but it’s starting to heal now,” he said.
The Storm have plenty of respect for Trindall’s kicking game and the threat it poses, but he knows accuracy is the key given the height and catching ability of Storm wingers Xavier Coates and Will Warbrick.
“It’s good when you have some good chases on the end of the kick,” he said. “Will is a good leaper, so there will be a bit of a challenge there. It doesn’t really change things. I might shorten the kicks up a bit so they have to run a bit more, but we’ve got some good catches as well so I won’t change much.”
Knights approach premiership-winning half to work as attack consultant
Michael Chammas
The Newcastle Knights have reached out to three-time premiership-winning playmaker Luke Keary about a role with the club as an attack and halves consultant from next season.
The Knights are in the process of restructuring their coaching staff and have made the bold move to approach the recently retired Catalans pivot to gauge his interest in joining the club.
Former Roosters playmaker Luke Keary could be heading to Newcastle.Credit: NRL Photos
Keary worked with both new coach Justin Holbrook and director of football Chris James at the Sydney Roosters and is highly regarded as one of the smartest players in rugby league.
Keary, who spent this season with Catalans in the Super League after finishing his NRL career at the Sydney Roosters in 2024, is weighing up the opportunity.
The 33-year-old wants to spend the summer travelling with his young family but is said to be keen to discuss the opportunity to link with the Knights.
Newcastle are keen to add some specialised coaches to their ranks and believe Keary would be a huge asset to help work with recruits Dylan Brown and Sandon Smith, as well as incumbents Fletcher Sharpe and Kalyn Ponga.
Newcastle’s attack struggled to fire in 2025 under the guidance of attack coach Blake Green, who missed out on the job as Adam O’Brien’s successor to Holbrook.
Keary doesn’t have a job lined up at the Sydney Roosters, who themselves will welcome back Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in an official capacity to work with the club’s younger players in 2026.
‘Still a bit to get through’: Storm star no certainty to face Sharks
Roy Ward
Melbourne Storm playmaker Jahrome Hughes still has some training sessions to get through before he can be cleared to play in the preliminary final on Friday night.
The reigning Dally M Medallist is recovering from a fractured forearm and racing against time to prove his arm has healed enough to take on Cronulla AAMI Park for a spot in the grand final next week.
Hughes was named in Melbourne’s extended squad on Tuesday in the hope he is fit to play by game day. Back-rower Shawn Blore (fractured larynx) and fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen (concussion) were also named but could still be left out if they aren’t ruled fit to play.
Storm captain Harry Grant said Hughes was looking good at training, but the club’s tougher sessions were still to come before Craig Bellamy and his staff make a final call on selection.
“He’s been training pretty well and getting through what he has to do, but he still has a fair few things to get through with the week and how it builds up,” Grant said on Tuesday. “It’s good for Hughesy, it’s good for the team, but there is still a bit to get through.”
Hughes has remained optimistic about a return on Friday night but the Storm’s medical team have been more measured as the team does not want Hughes to re-injure himself.
Jahrome Hughes after his wrist injury.Credit: Getty Images
Young playmaker Jonah Pezet, who was also named in the squad, starred in the Storm’s qualifying final win against the Bulldogs, and will be ready to start at halfback should the Storm decide Hughes is not ready.
Grant said Hughes’ passing game was looking good meaning the questions would be around his fitness and strength.
“When I throw him some shockers [bad passes], that makes it harder for his forearm,” Grant joked. “But I don’t think it [the injury] has changed any of that.”
Papenhuyzen missed the qualifying final win over Canterbury with concussion, but his return to the No.1 jersey would see Nick Meaney shift back to the centres after filling in at fullback.
Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam at Broncos training on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
Meanwhile, captain Adam Reynolds will return at halfback for the Broncos alongside new super-sub Ezra Mam against Penrith in Sunday’s grand final qualifier.
Both return from five-week lay-offs to a side unbeaten since the pair suffered hamstring injuries in round 23 against Melbourne.
Reynolds said he was now “100 per cent” fit and ready to perform at No.7 after a minor training setback three weeks ago.
Mam has moved well at training the past week and done enough to convince coach Michael Maguire he is ready to shine.
Instead of starting, the plan is for Mam to be injected into the match when fatigue sets in among his teammates, and utilise his renowned footwork to trouble the middle forwards and Penrith’s edge defence.
The Panthers will remember how dynamic Mam can be after his hat-trick of tries in the 2023 grand final, won 26-24 by Penrith. Mam and Reece Walsh combined for one of those tries in a lethal one-two punch.
“I am just really excited for him and to rub shoulders with him again on the field,” Walsh said. “I feel like we have a really good connection and a really good instinct about each other. I’m just ready to go after it with him.” with AAP
Panthers duo shrug off injury worries ahead of Broncos showdown
Dan Walsh and Billie Eder
Penrith’s Liam Martin and Casey McLean insist they will be fit to play in Sunday’s grand final qualifier against Brisbane after being forced from the field in the Panthers semi-final thumping of Canterbury.
Martin was in obvious discomfort after he was tackled by former teammate Viliame Kikau, with the NSW and Kangaroos star staying down and struggling to breathe late in the contest.
The 28-year-old came from the field and struggled to make his way up the Accor Stadium tunnel at one point, but he was in good spirits soon afterwards and said he was not concerned about any recurrence of a rib cartilage injury he carried through last year’s finals.
“They’re all right now,” Martin said of his ribs after full-time. “There was a bit of carry-on there. It’s a bit sore at the moment, but they’re all right. I landed on the ball, and ‘Kiks’ is a pretty big man, and he landed on me. I was a bit winded, but I’m all right now.
Liam Martin is helped from the field at Accor Stadium.Credit: Getty Images
“It crossed my mind at first [that a serious injury may have occurred], but after a while I was like ‘it’s all right, I’m being a sook again’.”
Martin won last year’s Clive Churchill medal against Melbourne despite playing through the pain of a popped rib cartilage in the 2024 grand final.
Loading
He also required painkilling injections for almost the entire season to manage an ongoing AC joint injury in his shoulder, which he has battled again in recent weeks.
McLean, meanwhile, also dismissed concerns over separate hip-pointer and shoulder complaints that forced him off after 65 minutes against the Bulldogs.
The teen centre was untroubled in Penrith’s dressing rooms afterwards, though and doesn’t expect to miss any training or be in doubt for Sunday’s clash with Brisbane.
Utility Brad Schneider was also placed on report for a cannonball tackle on Canterbury’s Sitili Tupouniua, with the match review committee to review the tackle on Monday morning.
Win one of 10 double passes to the 2025 NRL grand final. Click here for details and to enter the competition, exclusive to Sydney Morning Herald subscribers.
