‘Why not give yourself a chance?’ How Yeo kept premiership dreams alive

Isaah Yeo feared his season was over after he ruptured his pectoral muscle but wants to delay surgery to lead Australia in the World Cup, and is hopeful of closing in on a multi-year contract extension with the Panthers.

Yeo is also backing his good friend Nathan Cleary to overcome a foot injury and play for the Panthers in their seventh straight preliminary final on Sunday against Newcastle.

While all eyes are on Cleary and whether he takes the field at Accor Stadium, Yeo’s injury comeback will become one of the stories of the season if the Panthers win a fifth title in six seasons.

The 31-year-old ruptured his pec making a tackle against the New Zealand Warriors at the start of last month, and was convinced his premiership and World Cup dreams were over.

The recovery time for pec surgery is a minimum of 10 weeks, but Yeo has returned without painkillers. He also plays in the knowledge that the injury “can’t get worse”.

“It was sore for that little split second when it happened, and when I got down in the sheds I went, ‘actually, maybe it’s not too bad’,” Yeo said on Tuesday.

“But then it had no strength; it didn’t feel great; I didn’t think it was going to be a good outcome.

“I thought I’d be missing an opportunity to be a part of the special big games for the club, and the World Cup as well.

“That was all running through my head, which I think is natural. There were even negative [thoughts] after the scan and initial conversations with the doctors.

“But before I went to book the surgery, the surgeon said, ‘We have a four-week window to see how it settles down’.

“I thought it would be mad not to. It already felt like my season was up in flames, so why would you not give yourself a chance? Since then, it’s given me nothing but confidence.”

Yeo always wanted to test his right pec in the final club game against the Wests Tigers, rather than break down in week one of the finals and “cruel us with a [unnecessary] sub”.

He made 26 tackles against the Tigers, then 22 tackles in the qualifying final win against the Roosters. He didn’t miss a tackle in either match.

Yeo joked the club had been excellent at keeping injury information top secret until he read this masthead’s report about the full extent of his injury.

When asked to confirm the report, Yeo said: “It is the pec major, whatever that one is. The main one. If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it properly.”

Not only does Yeo want to spearhead Penrith’s drive towards a fifth premiership in six years, he also knows what a wonderful opportunity he has to lead Australia to a World Cup on home soil. Provided he receives the club’s blessing, and his form warrants selection – he will be the first player picked by coach Kevin Walters – Yeo intends to play in green and gold.

As for striking a new deal with Penrith, the club’s most-capped player at 285 games is eager to stretch his career until the end of 2030, just before he turns 36.

“I’ve been pretty lucky with injuries, and I’d like to think that plays in my favour, but two or three [years] would be nice,” he said.

“It’s all looking really positive, but we’ve probably just popped it on the back burner until the season’s done.

“Obviously, my preference is to stay. I said [players will test their market value] at the start of the year because I thought it made sense for the club.

“Since then, we’ve figured out what [coach] Ivan [Cleary] is doing, and the plan moving forward with ‘Wal’ [Peter Wallace] stepping in.”

As for convincing good friend Nathan Cleary to also stay, Yeo said: “There have been no pacts. We obviously have talked about it contract-wise. I’m sure you’d love to be a fly on the wall in some of those discussions.

“His career goal is for a few years longer than mine, but it’d be nice to stay together, for sure.

“He is going all right [in terms of his foot]. He had a pretty quiet week last week, but the week off was certainly nice for him.

“He would have been sore if we needed to play last weekend. But it’s settled down a bit, and hopefully, it’s all systems go.”