‘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 .