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George Clarke

Cleary relishes unleashing floater threat

Nathan Cleary will test Parramatta's Waqa Blake with his bombs and floaters in Sunday's grand final. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Spare a thought for Parramatta winger Waqa Blake this weekend as he attempts to deal with Nathan Cleary's floating bombs in Sunday's grand final.

Blake came a cropper when the Eels met Penrith in week one of the finals under the threat of the halfback's favourite trick play.

Cleary has long held one of the most precise kicking games in the NRL, but "the floater" or "the torpedo" is his latest weapon of choice to inflict misery on opposition players.

Immortal Andrew Johns has previously described it "as the hardest kick to do".

Like the traditional up-and-under, Cleary wants height but the difference is he will aim to make the ball deviate in the air.

It means a winger can get into position to anticipate the landing point of the kick only for the ball to veer at the last moment.

Both Blake and South Sydney winger Taane Milne were left red-faced by Cleary as the halfback sent the Steeden swirling through the sky in Penrith's two finals wins.

"You try and hold the ball on the side and I like to drop the ball so it's flat, horizontal," Cleary told AAP.

"Then I kick through the belly and hopefully it gets some float.

"If it doesn't (I hope) it starts to spiral a little bit."

When he opts to go to that section of his arsenal depends on his field position.

Often Cleary will be between his own 40-metre zone and that of the opposition's and he'll send the kick from his own position on the right edge, to the opposing side's right winger.

"A lot of it comes down to the feel of the play and when to do it in the game," he said.

"It's a little bit of a muscle memory thing.

"Benny Harden is our sort of last-plays coach and I bounce a few ideas off him and the rest of the coaching staff.

"(Penrith fullback) Dylan Edwards is very good (at catching them), he's the best at the club and the hardest to get.

"There are on and off days for them (back three players) and there's a bit of chirp behind it too."

Cleary's array of kicking talents led to him being invited to give pointers to Argentina's rugby union side when they were in Australia for last year's Rugby Championship.

He still seeks the advice of Daryl Halligan to perfect his goalkicking, which is at a competition high of 86 per cent for anyone with more than five attempts this season.

That will be critical on Sunday given the last three grand finals have been decided by just six points.

From his floater, to pointed stab behind the defensive line and his crossfield chip to towering back-rower Viliame Kikau, Cleary has one thing left to accomplish: the rarely-sighted 20/40.

"It's a bit risky," he said with a grin. "But I have thought about it."

If the floater doesn't give Parramatta food for thought, then that surely will.

NATHAN CLEARY'S 2022 KICKING STATS:

Conversion rate: 86 per cent - 72 from 83 attempts (1st overall)

40/20s: 3 (=2nd overall)

Average kicking metres per game: 472m (1st overall)

Forced drop-outs: 17 (=6th overall)

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