Charles Darwin didn’t have NRL halfbacks in mind when he came up with his theory of evolution, but Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary is a living, breathing example of how the fittest survive, and it’s why he’s on track for rugby league immortality.
The 25-year-old is about to play in his fourth grand final in a row as the Panthers look to become the first team in 40 seasons to win three first-grade premierships on the trot.
And his meteoric rise is no accident with Cleary developing new weapons in his running and kicking game to mess with the rest of the competition, much like the fire-breathing Bowser did in an attempt to defeat the pesky Super Mario in classic Nintendo games. Cleary has always set the standards at training which is why he’s never fazed on the footy field. Picture; Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
“Not many people see what he does, but it’s crazy what he does when the lights go off here after training.” Cleary and his Panthers teammates have won two premierships since the 2020 Grand Final defeat. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty Images“I’ve been lucky enough to experience that at a young age and learn ways to deal with it and learn ways to deal with outside noise which is probably something I didn’t handle the best early in my career.“I don’t think there’s a successful person that hasn’t gone through some failures and learnt from them.
While his defence has never been an issue, Cleary’s attack has been questioned at times – particularly in the State of Origin arena – with critics calling him out for being too structured. “That’s the beautiful thing about rugby league. It’s not a black and white game where you’re always going to have it down pat. Every game is different and there are lots of grey areas and lots of areas to get better in.”
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