Penrith drop Fiji international from squad

Penrith centre Waqa Blake has been dropped for Friday’s game against Wests Tigers for turning up late to training.

The Fiji international was omitted from Ivan Cleary’s 21-man squad on Thursday, with the Panthers suggesting Blake misread the training schedule and turned up late earlier this week.

Blake, who has earned one cap for the Bati, has scored 34 tries in 85 appearances for the Panthers since making his NRL debut in 2015.

Penrith coach Cleary commented: “It’s nothing major but disappointing as well.

“Standards are the most important thing so that’s what we’ve done. It’s certainly not what you want but team standards, you hold them really highly.

“We’re a team that across the balance of the season haven’t been happy with how we’ve been playing, there’s been a lot of injuries and individuals could play better as well.

“The team is the most important thing.”