Nathan Cleary’s return from a five-game suspension may have taken some people by surprise — but his dad and Panthers coach, Ivan, was not one of them.
There were some question marks hanging over Cleary’s head leading into Friday’s qualifying final given he hadn’t played in over a month.
But the star halfback didn’t miss a beat as he set up three tries and terrorised the Eels with his kicking game.
Eels coach Brad Arthur conceded after the 27-8 loss that Cleary “kicked us to death,” while Ivan Cleary had a feeling his son was going to deliver.
Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
LISTEN TO EPISODE 24 OF THE FOX LEAGUE PODCAST WITH JARROD CROKER
“Look, he’s always done it in the past,” Ivan said when asked whether he expected Nathan to be so dominant.
“If he’s ever got injured or hasn’t played for a while, he comes back well for us.
“The way he was training and just the way he looked, I thought he’d go all right.”
Cleary’s bombs wreaked havoc on the Eels, particularly winger Waqa Blake, who dropped two which led to Panthers tries.
His skills closer to the line were on show too as he set up Dylan Edwards with a perfectly-weighted grubber and then set up James Fisher-Harris with a flick pass just two minutes later.
The 24-year-old finished with three try assists, a linebreak, a linebreak assist, four tackle busts, two offloads and 67 running metres, while also making 18 tackles with just one miss.
Legendary halfback Cooper Cronk said in Fox League’s commentary that “you can do nothing but tip your hat to Cleary” for his performance.
Cronk believes the New South Wales Origin halfback used the five weeks off to “sharpen the sword in terms of his kicking game” and he was “reaping the rewards” of that.
MORE NRL NEWS
PANTHERS RATINGS: Cleary drops jaws with perfect return as flyer gets back to best
EELS RATINGS: Former Panther’s high ball horror show as danger man goes missing
BIG HITS: Cleary exposes weak link in ‘masterclass’ return as Eels now face ‘hard way’
EELS WOES: Arthur says ‘health is priority’ for Moses but won’t rule out return
IN DOUBT: Twist in suspension storm as injured Panthers star sin-binned, on report
Cleary’s co-captain Isaah Yeo thought he was “outstanding” and revealed the boost in confidence the playing group have when the chief playmaker is on the field.
“He’s our star player, he’s our halfback,” Yeo said.
“When he’s out there, you can feel the confidence grow.
“I thought his kicking game was outstanding, he knew when to run.
“Like Ivan said, you could see it happening at training but then to come out on the big stage, he’s the halfback he’s always going to have that pressure on him particularly after that five-week spell… he was the best player on the park by a mile tonight.”
Eels skipper Clint Gutherson agreed with his coach that Cleary “kicked us to death” and was quick to defend Blake after his night to forget under the high ball.
“Look, we’ve just got to work harder at our kick pressure and not give them enough time,” Gutherson said.
“We can’t be throwing blame at Waqa, we’ve still got to defend those errors and move on to next week.”
Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!
