"He's lucky": SEN League reacts to Cleary's sin bin

With Nathan Cleary staring down the possibility of a season-ending suspension, the SEN League commentary team have given their thoughts on his sin-binning.

With seconds left in the first half of Penrith's qualifying final against Sydney and the scores tied 12-all, Hugo Savala kicked the ball in Penrith’s half of the field to conclude Sydney’s set.

But after getting rid of the ball, the Panthers superstar proceeded to make forceful contact with the Roosters half’s leg whilst trying to charge down the kick.

That resulted in Cleary being placed on report and sent to the bin for the first 10 minutes of the second half, which sees him face a nervous wait for the next couple of days to see if he’ll be suspended.

Reacting in real time on SEN League, Justin Horo and Jimmy Smith were in disbelief at his actions and believed the halfback could have been sent off for his actions.

Smith: “It had to be a sin bin.”

Horo: “He knew immediately.”

Smith: “It's the worst one you could possibly see.”

Horo: “You know what? Credit to Hugo Savala, who got straight back-up.

“’Cos if he'd stuffed around a little bit and stayed down on the ground, Nathan went that hard through his leg then.

“There's an argument that that could have been worse for Nathan Cleary.”

Smith: I think he's lucky to just get 10 minutes.

Horo: “All I'm gonna say is massive respect to Hugo Savala because that could have been a game-winning play.

“If he'd stayed down on the ground, pretended his knee was busted, they'd stay, they'd look at it, they'd continually look at that.

“Nath could've not only (been) given 10, (but) he might have been sent. He went straight through the leg.

Smith: “It's as bad as you'll see. I can't believe that he did it.”

Cleary came back onto the field and kicked a field goal which gave his side an unassailable lead before Brian To’o’s try in the 77th minute put the result beyond doubt with Penrith winning 19-12.

But the No. 7 appeared to pick up an injury towards the latter stages of the match, adding another mystery to the fallout from this clash.

The judiciary is expected to hand down its charges from Sunday's match at a later date.

The Panthers will have the week off as they gear up for a home preliminary final against either the Knights or Warriors.

SEN League will have live coverage of every NRL Finals game across our radio network and on the SEN app.