To start the season, Nathan Cleary was walking all over the turf of Penrith’s great rivals.
He was at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium to shoot a television commercial for the launch of the NRL season when he drifted away from the production set-up and started feigning kicks and passes along the sideline.
In the last scene of the ad, his father and Panthers coach Ivan puts his hand on Nathan’s shoulder, and they walk towards the light in a darkened colosseum.
Seven months on, the NRL season has come full circle.
It wouldn’t have needed the savviest marketing executive at the NRL to predict the Clearys would be back in another grand final, 12 months on from Ivan presenting Nathan with the Clive Churchill Medal after the memorable and COVID-interrupted decider in Brisbane.
But who would have thought they would be doing it against another father-son duo?
Penrith Panthers co-captain Nathan Cleary and father Ivan will contest their third straight grand final.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur and 20-year-old son Jake will be trying to not only snap the Eels’ tortuous 36-year premiership drought, but also get bragging rights over the Clearys at Accor Stadium on Sunday night.
Jake has retained his place on the bench despite not playing a single minute of Parramatta’s gripping preliminary final win over the Cowboys.
“I don’t think we’d be playing in the grand final right now if we had a different coach,” Eels back-rower Ryan Matterson said. “There’s been a lot of things that went against us throughout the whole year. That’s rugby league.
“But you’ve got to have a passionate coach and one who wants to go above and beyond. That’s Brad. He doesn’t sleep. He’s [at Kellyville] in the morning jogging up that hill training hard and setting an example. That’s him.”
The Panthers will start overwhelming favourites against the Eels. Arthur has managed to engineer two of Penrith’s four defeats this season, but his side were blown away in the final 20 minutes of their qualifying final match-up three weeks ago.
The season hasn’t been without incident for the Clearys, either.
Nathan missed the first three rounds of the season as he recovered from major shoulder surgery over summer, and then was suspended for the last five weeks of the regular season for a dangerous throw on Parramatta’s Dylan Brown. It was the first time he’d been sent off in his NRL career.
Ivan was admitted to intensive care and battled blood clots midway through the year as a result of a serious knee infection, which forced him to miss coaching box duties for three matches.
But on the last day of the season, he’ll get the chance to put his hand on his son’s shoulder again – and hopes it will be to celebrate at the expense of their great rivals.
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