“It’s been very refreshing, actually, to just walk around like a regular person,” Nathan Cleary says as a drab February morning in Manchester becomes something different to the revered Australian. It might feel to the rest of us that we’re locked in an endless English winter but, for the folk hero of the Penrith Panthers who is described by many as the best rugby league player in the world, the grey anonymity feels uplifting.
“Obviously I’m in a very privileged position back home, with a lot of interest, but it’s nice to be here,” he continues. “It’s such a refreshing feeling.”
Wherever Cleary is in Australia, and especially in Penrith, on the grittier outskirts of Sydney, his fame can be consuming. The hardcore rugby league fraternity in the north-west of England has shown respect and even awe this week, and Cleary has done his share of selfies and autograph sessions at scheduled events, but the rest of Manchester has left him in peace. Most people in the UK have no idea that Cleary produced one of the great sporting stories of last year, with a sustained 14-minute streak of brilliance and clarity to overturn a 24-8 deficit against the Brisbane Broncos and help the Panthers win an historic third straight grand final.
They are also oblivious to the fact that Cleary was one of the key supporters of a bid to enshrine an Indigenous voice in parliament and that he and Mary Fowler, a star for the Matildas in the women’s football World Cup last year, have become one of Australia’s most discussed celebrity couples. In his low-key way Cleary is happier talking away from the cameras and the masses as he prepares for Saturday night’s World Club Challenge against Wigan.
There is also a steely little edge because, a year ago, Penrith lost the equivalent match between the respective champions of the NRL and the Super League. Defeat stung even more as they were shocked by a 13-12 home defeat to St Helens. It was the first time an English team had won the competition away from home since Wigan beat the Broncos in 1994.
“That hurt,” Clearly says bluntly, “so we’re going to try and turn that around this week. We knew St Helens were a great side and we totally respected them. I also know a fair bit about Wigan as I’m a Super League fan. Obviously Wigan were on fire last year and my good friend Tyrone May played for Catalans Dragons against them in the final. I got up to watch that and they can strike from all around the park, with a lot of speed.”
Are the English clubs closing the gap on their traditionally superior NRL rivals? “I think so. There’s just that discrepancy between the top and bottom teams. But the top three or four Super League teams are great sides with great players. So we look at the challenge of playing Wigan away as an opportunity to do something special. Everyone was psyched when they saw the game was sold out and we’ve spoken about managing the atmosphere and the conditions.”
Cleary was icy cool in the searing heat of his third successive grand final win. The match was hailed as the greatest comeback in NRL history. Facing a crushing defeat, Cleary entered that mysterious space where sporting icons find the composure and conviction to create something transcendent. “I definitely get recognised more since that game,” he says, “but I wouldn’t change that. It was such a great experience.”
He had made mistakes and the Panthers were reeling and trailing by 16 points with just 18 minutes left. Cleary laughs when I ask what he was thinking in that difficult moment. “I said to myself, and excuse my French: ‘Fuck it. It can’t get much worse than this so I may as well go down swinging.’ I didn’t want to come off the field with any regrets as the way I started the second half was really poor. We always had belief in each other and I knew we just needed a bit of momentum.”
Cleary made a searing break to set up a try for Moses Leota, drove the Broncos back with a booming 40-20 kick, conjured up another try for Stephen Crichton and then nailed a difficult conversion from an acute angle. With two minutes left on the clock he cut past four Broncos to score the match-winning try which he converted to seal an extraordinary 28-26 victory. On these pages it was described as “an otherworldly performance. Coming into the game, Cleary had been a legend. But those 14 minutes made him something more” and “like some higher being. Merciless. Instant.”
The half-back looks mortal, and even shy, in Manchester. “Yeah, it’s interesting because it felt like an out-of-body experience. I felt so calm and in control. I wasn’t stressed about the score-line or even thinking too much about the clock. I was just playing each play as it happened and I didn’t even feel like there was a crowd for most of it.”
Does he often reach that eerie state of calm? “No. That was definitely the most in control of my mind I’ve ever been. We do a lot of work on the mental side and to feel that in control on the biggest stage made me happy. It’s quite hard to reach that place but a lot of it is self-taught. Sometimes just taking a breath and staying in the moment, rather than worrying too much about what has happened, or might happen, is all it takes. The whole aftermath is a blur for me, a sort of euphoric feeling, but now I’m trying to move on and create more memories. That’s all in the past.”
Yet it should be pointed out that Cleary played a large chunk of that game with a badly injured knee which required considerable treatment when the Panthers were losing. “It wasn’t the best but the adrenaline took over,” he says. “After the game it was pretty swollen and I don’t think drinking alcohol helped! I ended up wearing a brace for a month.”
Cleary’s dad, Ivan, is the Panthers’ quietly driven head coach. While Cleary Sr does not make grandstanding speeches he has already built a legacy with the Panthers, who have established themselves as one of the great teams in NRL history. “Last year he spoke about the opportunity that was there in terms of no NRL team winning three grand finals in a row. We looked at great teams from other sports like the Chicago Bulls [who won three successive NBA titles from 1996 to 1998] and Hawthorn [winning three AFL championships between 2013 and 2015]. So our theme towards the end of last season was ‘Undisputed’. But we’re now focusing on winning the next one rather than talking about four in a row.”
Penrith is a tough and close-knit community so how did Cleary feel when, at the age of 14, he and his family moved there after his dad became the Panthers coach for the first time in 2012? “Penrith are a very looked-down-on community at times, and seen as outsiders, but I loved it. It’s a working-class town to the rest of Sydney and when I first moved there people were saying how shit it was all the time. But to immerse ourselves in the community was amazing. It’s just full of good, genuine and tight-knit people. I think what we’ve done as a team makes them even more proud to say they’re from Penrith. That’s been a massive motivation for us.”
Is his father tougher on him than his teammates? “Yeah, I’d say he is,” Cleary says with a grin. “He’s not going to give me a compliment in front of the group. But he would never insult me either. He would just pull me aside and let me know. But the best thing about having him as a coach is we’ve got full trust in each other and have those honest conversations. And, on the quiet, he will say if I’ve done well. If we go all right, he’ll be pretty proud.”
Their perennial quest for sporting domination has been well-suited to Manchester City’s training ground where they have worked this week. “It’s a whole other world and on a different scale to what we’re used to in Australia,” Cleary says of City’s facilities. “It’s been like a dream to train there – even for me as a Man United fan.”
Cleary laughs but he sounds rueful when lamenting the fact that his girlfriend, Fowler, who plays for Manchester City in the WSL, is in Melbourne this week on national team duty. “She’s playing for the Matildas at the moment so that’s unfortunate timing.”
The 26-year-old is thoughtful when addressing the way in which his relationship with Fowler has intensified the scrutiny on both of them. “It’s definitely been a different dimension and we’re both quite private people. So it’s been something to navigate through. I’m quite used to people being interested in my football but to have a private life in the public eye is different. But we have to live with it and try and keep as much of it as private as we can.”
Cleary has been more comfortable in taking a public role politically and, last year, he supported the Yes campaign in a bid to win the vote for an Indigenous voice in Australia’s parliament. “It was easy for me to talk about it positively,” he says, “and I wasn’t too worried about any backlash. I knew it would divide opinion, unfortunately, but the way it was explained to me made it quite a simple decision. I’m definitely not a politics expert but I’m happy to use my voice for the right causes.”
Voicing his support for Ukraine over the last two years of the Russian invasion has also felt natural. “Both of my mum’s parents were from Ukraine,” he explains. “My nan was born in a German concentration camp and then fled to Australia. She hasn’t spoken too much about it but Ukraine is definitely in our blood. All that has happened has given us motivation to learn more about our heritage and do anything we can to help and connect with Ukraine.”
More mundane sporting stories have trailed him recently with Eddie Jones, before he was sacked as the Wallabies coach, leading the call to persuade Cleary to switch codes to rugby union. “It’s hard not to hear about those things in Australia,” he admits. “It’s an interesting prospect but not something I’ve given much thought to. I’m just so happy with what I’m doing at the moment.”
Cleary is inspired most by American greats, and he discusses the achievements of Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James with real enthusiasm. But his love for his chosen sport runs deep and his face lights up again at the prospect of playing his first game, on Saturday night, since that miraculous grand final four months ago.
Wigan, and the DW Stadium, will be seething with noise and fervour but Cleary will be in his element after such a refreshing week of relative anonymity. “Rugby league has been my passion since I was able to walk,” he says simply. “I just love it.”
