Nathan Cleary’s injury is a throwback to Cooper Cronk’s 2018 heroics

As Nathan Cleary prepares for 80 minutes of heroics with a questionable shoulder, let’s take a look back at one of the most heroic injury performances of all time.

None other than a man who started the 2018 NRL season as public enemy number one and finished the season as a Club legend.

Cooper Cronk was a controversial signing for the Sydney Roosters. He was already known as a club legend for the Melbourne Storm, was on the back end of his career and would be taking the place of a club legend in Mitchell Pearce.

This was the second big move from the Roosters in 2018, who also signed James Tedesco in a move that said, “we’re ready to win RIGHT NOW”.

The season was anything but perfect over the first couple of months and some people were strongly questioning whether the Roosters made the right moves.

The second half of the year would silence the critics though as the Roosters went on a TEAR as they finished with the Minor Premiership.

In the Grand Final decider, Cronk went down in a NASTY tackle against the Rabbitohs that saw him clutching his shoulder and questioning his availability for the big dance.

Cronk was named in the extended squad in the lead up (wearing iconic jersey number 23), questioning if he was any chance to play.

He attended media in a sling and there was only one storyline ahead of the big game, "will Cronk play?!".

This was such big news; a helicopter was sent to fly over a training session in a bid to see whether he was training.

Low and behold, he played nearly eighty minutes with a fractured scapula and instantly became a Roosters club legend after just one season in the Tricolours.

The Roosters won the match 21-6 and showed that the performance from Cronk is etched in history forever.