Back injury to be managed, says Moylan

Returning Penrith captain Matt Moylan has revealed he’ll need to manage his back injury to get through the rest of the NRL season.

The Panthers star is finally set to make his season debut in Sunday’s round-five clash against Parramatta, the same team he last played in a trial back in February before complaining about his back.

It was later revealed he suffered a stress fracture.

It was also the Eels who ended his 2015 season after severely breaking his ankle against them last May, but Moylan isn’t relying on his third clash against them to be lucky in what will be his first game for almost a year.

“I’ve got no nerves at all,” he told AAP at the club’s unveiling of their highly-touted rugby league academy on Wednesday.

“I’m not expecting to go out there and set the world on fire. I just want to go out there, find a rhythm and build from there. I’m feeling good and ready to go.”

However in what looms as scary news for Panthers fans, the 24-year-old admitted he would have to get extra treatment on his back just to get him through the rest of the year.

“I’ve still got to do rehab on it now, but I’m going to have to do that throughout the whole season anyway. I’ve just got to stay on top of it and it should be sweet,” he said.

“I’m going to have to look after it and make sure I’m doing everything so it doesn’t come back.”

Moylan’s inclusion is a big boost to a Panthers side that have lost three of their opening four games of the season and have particularly struggled to close out games from winning positions.

Twice in their past three games they’ve blown leads in the final five minutes, although coach Anthony Griffin warned fans not to expect too much, too soon, from their fullback.

Asked if Moylan will add the class his team is in desperate need of, Griffin said: “Long term he will.

“This weekend, he probably won’t. He’s going to be short of a run.

“We just need to have a bit of patience with him. He just needs to get a couple of games under his belt, feel the contact, get his confidence up, and obviously once he pushes through that, he’ll build his game or his talent into the team performance.”

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