Despite the rising conversations around high-impact hit-ups on the first tackle, Penrith Panthers enforcer Liam Martin has promised he won’t back down.
In the last two weeks, Toluat'u Koula and Lindsay Collins have been sidelined due to concussions sustained from the kick-off. The Storm’s Nelson Asofa-Solomona is out of the Grand Final after the Collins incident.
So, will the Penrith Panthers tone down their intensity at the kick-off? In an interview with SEN 1170 Breakfast, Liam Martin shared that the team won't be amending their style.
"If you sort of try to say that it could probably go too far in the opposite (direction)," Martin said. “You just want the boys to go in confident in their training and how they've done it in the past.
"Obviously we try not to be reckless in training and the games, accidents do happen but I think he (Ivan Cleary) will say to just approach how you normally would any other game. I think Sunday will be no different."
Martin also added that the high-stakes collisions sets the tempo for the games and toning it down would be tough considering the momentum with which the teams come into the tackle.
"We do thousands of them a year, you sort of know how to approach them, accidents do happen but that sort of happens in every tackle," he said
"I don't think we can really change anything in how you approach."
The 2024 NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final is slated to take place on Oct. 6, 7.30pm AEST at Accor Stadium.
