Panthers star Taylan May to miss 2023 NRL season with ACL injury

The Penrith Panthers have been rocked by news that star winger Taylan May will miss the 2023 NRL season having ruptured his ACL in their loss to St Helens in the World Club Challenge on Saturday.

The injury creates further headaches for head coach Ivan Cleary as he prepares his side for an attempted three-peat of NRL Premiership victories.

The injury to May’s knee appears to have been suffered in the first half when backing into a two-man tackle as the Panthers worked the ball out of their end.

Former NRL player Agnatius Paasi was the third man into the tackle, going low at the legs of May and pushing his knee inwards.

May had an incredible 2022 NRL season, winning 19 of the 21 games he played in and scoring 16 tries to go with 18 line breaks, three try assists and an average of more than 150m made per game.

May proved to be a key component of the Panthers’ ability to work the ball away from their own try line, earning himself Samoan representative honours in the 2022 Rugby League World Cup in England.

Coach Cleary has few logical options to replace May for the season, meaning he could be forced to think outside the box.

Over the 2022/2023 off-season, the Panthers brought Luke Garner, Tyrone Peachey and Zac Hosking to the club.

Garner was expected to be a replacement for Viliame Kikau in the second row, but could play in the centres, as could Peachey, which could push Hosking into the starting side.

Another left-field decision could be to move the departing Stephen Crichton to the left wing, with an eye looking beyond the 2023 season when he leaves the club for the Bulldogs.

However, it is expected that the up-and-coming Sunia Turuva takes up the left wing position, should Brian To’o not move back to his favoured side.

The decision will be centred around whether the Panthers break up their right-edge combination of Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin, Crichton and To’o.

May was originally set to miss the first two matches of the 2023 NRL season after having an off-field ban deferred in controversial fashion late last season.

It is unclear at this stage whether or not May will be expected to serve this ban prior to his return.

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