As if replacing the departed Petero Civoniceva wasn’t hard enough, Penrith prop Sam McKendry will now have to do without his partner Tim Grant in Sunday’s NRL clash against the Sydney Roosters.
Grant damaged a calf at training and was on Saturday scratched from the Panthers 18-man squad along with bench utility Blake Austin, who failed to recover from a cork suffered in the round one loss to Canterbury.
Former Bulldog Chris Armit is expected to start alongside McKendry at Allianz Stadium, the pair facing a tough ask up against youthful Roosters props Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Lama Tasi.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was impressed with how McKendry and Grant fared in last weekend’s first game without Civoniceva, with McKendry in particular upping the ante with runs for 134 metres in 51 minutes.
In 21 games last season, only once did McKendry register 17 hit-ups, while he surpassed 130 metres only twice.
“It was a tough start (against the Bulldogs), but it felt good out there,” McKendry told AAP.
“I was happy with my work rate.
“We’ve got a good forward pack, we can replace him (Civoniceva). If we do our job on the field we’ve got the potential to beat any forward pack we play against.”
McKendry was eagerly anticipating his match-up with fellow New Zealand international Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, with whom he toured the UK last year as members of the Kiwi Four Nations squad.
Waerea-Hargreaves was at his menacing best against South Sydney on Monday night and, if reports he is in the sights of Super Rugby franchise NSW Waratahs are correct, he will be out for a big performance on Sunday.
In what may resemble a red rag to a bull, McKendry couldn’t help but have a friendly pre-game shot at his countryman.
“I always look forward to playing against Jared, I can’t wait to play him on the weekend,” McKendry said.
“He’s got a bit of crap in his game.”
Asked if he’d be better off without the “crap”, McKendry said: “I’m not going to tell him how to play his game. It works for him.”
Roosters captain Braith Anasta has been named to return from a back injury for his first game of 2012, with his stand-in at five-eighth last week – Daniel Mortimer – battling it out with Anthony Mitchell for the final spot on the bench.
