Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has revealed what sets son Nathan apart as a pair of legendary playmakers declared him on track to become the greatest rugby league player of all time.
The man who in many circles currently holds that title – Andrew Johns – believes Nathan is doing things that nobody has ever done at 24.
Another legend in Johnathan Thurston also believes Nathan is tracking towards Immortal status.
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The former Warriors ballboy – where his dad coached – was never the ‘freak’ coming through the juniors in New Zealand.
When Nathan arrived in Penrith as a 14-year-old, there were other teenagers in the area with bigger raps.
Even when he arrived in the NRL, he made his debut to little fanfare.
There were no declarations the 18-year-old was headed for greatness, like the billings of Joseph Suaalii and Sonny Bill Williams.
Even after being picked for New South Wales at 20, some critics – including Johns – said he was too one-dimensional.
But Nathan was unrivalled in one department – work ethic.
Johns and a chorus of other pundits have been forced to eat their words as the halfback has piled on the points, wins and premierships ever since.
“If Nathan Cleary continues on his current trajectory, JT and I are fighting it out for silver and bronze,” Johns said in August.
After watching his son steer Penrith to consecutive titles on Sunday night, Ivan was asked about the declarations from Johns and Thurston.
“It’s a huge rap from those guys, they were Nathan’s idols growing up,” Ivan told foxsports.com.au.
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“But at 24, all I can say is he works his arse off. Honestly, he works that hard, he does not leave a stone unturned ever and anything he gets he deserves.”
The Panthers were cruising this season when Round 20 kicked off – having lost just one game all year – but then a moment of madness threatened to bring it undone.
Nathan was sent off for spear tackling Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown and copped a five-week suspension.
“That (tackle) was a real year turner for us that night,” Ivan said.
“We lost Romey (Jarome Luai) the week before to an injury and then when Nath got sent I was like yeah… everything was pretty smooth up until then.”
Ivan gave an insight into how his son handled the lay-off before returning in week one of finals with arguably the best performance of anyone all season.
“He did what he did, it happened, but it sort of gave us a new challenge while those guys were out,” Ivan said.
“It gave him a challenge you know to make the most of that time which he did was sort of like a mini pre-season for him, he got to do much more work in the gym that he hadn’t done when he had his shoulder reconstruction the year before.
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“He just tried to add value the best he could, I knew he was going to be fit enough, the great thing about when you’re suspended and not injured is you can train and train against us so he did that which was good for us, train with us.
“He’s always come back well from a period of time out too, I was hopeful of that, it was still pretty impressive what he’s done.”
Nathan told foxsports.com.au he felt he owed his teammates a standout finals campaign after also missing the first three rounds of the season with a shoulder injury.
“The way the season had gone that far you know I felt like I hadn’t (contributed 100 per cent), I missed the start of the season and then I did that and it was just stupid,” Cleary said.
“I thought the boys did really well (without me), they bounced back from that period really well and that made me feel like I had to put in the hard yards and work hard because I knew they were.”
Ivan was famously sacked at Penrith in 2015 after four seasons in charge and then joined the Wests Tigers in 2017.
He didn’t coach in 2016 before replacing Jason Taylor at the Wests Tigers on a four-year deal in April, 2017.
But the opportunity to coach Nathan proved too enticing and Ivan left the Tigers with two years left on his deal to re-join the Panthers.
Despite a disappointing campaign in 2019, it proved a triumphant return as Penrith contested the next three grand finals and have won the past two.
“I’m proud to just call him my dad, you know,” Nathan told foxsports.com.au.
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“To go through this with him it’s amazing, it’s very unique… because 2019 that was probably the saddest I’ve seen him.
“I felt like I was part of that and the turnaround and being here now after winning two comps in a row, it’s crazy.”
The only blemish on Nathan’s 2022 season was losing Origin to Queensland in what proved a major upset.
But NSW halfback’s performance in game two, the Blues’ only win, will go down in history.
“No other halfback has had a game like that in Origin at his age,” Johns said.
NSW great Mick Ennis compared it to Johns in 2005 which most pundits believe is the greatest individual Origin performance of all time.
“A historical individual performance,’ Michael Ennis said on Fox League.
“I haven’t seen a more dominant individual performance from a New South Wales half since Andrew Johns in 2005… it was incredible from Nathan Cleary.”
The Blues most successful coach, Phil Gould, also described it as one of the greatest individual Origin performances of all time.
‘I think that second half tonight was one of the truly great halfback performances in Origin history,’ Gould said.
“It ranks up there with the best of all time in what he did in that period. In the first half he was a little frantic and side-to-side and trying to find something. A grubber kick to Burton got a spark in him and all of a sudden he started to tear Queensland apart.”
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