Is this the biggest game of NSW Blues star Nathan Cleary’s career? Even he thinks it might be
Blues enforcer Liam Martin has a confession to make: he doesn’t think he can handle being Nathan Cleary.
Expect him to face a tough push each day against a wall of heated Maroons defenders in the hope of having an entire state on his shoulders.
“I don’t think I could do it, to be honest,” Martin says of his Panthers teammate. “Players have a lot of responsibility.
“I’ve admired him my whole career, his ability to handle pressure.”
Wednesday night’s State of Origin III in Brisbane looms as one of the biggest games of Cleary’s career, with the series locked at 1-1.
The biggest? Are we getting ahead of ourselves?
“Every game you enter – be it grand finals, Origin deciders or Origins in general – you feel like it’s the biggest game you’ve ever been a part of,” says Cleary. “This one is probably no different.”
Cleary has no illusions about what awaits him. He speaks calmly about the praise or criticism that will inevitably be directed at him.
“You’re either a hero or a villain,” he said matter-of-factly. “This is a live-by-the-sword-or-die-by-the-sword mentality.
“The beauty of sport, especially rugby league, is that you’re never done with it. You’ve never quite figured it out, and when you think you’ve done it, it throws you back into the world.”
According to Cleary, Martin and many others, he is the best player in the NRL and perhaps the best of his generation.
He is a four-time premiership-winning halfback for the Panthers, a two-time Clive Churchill Medal winner for man of the match in the grand final and the chief architect of one of the greatest dynasties in Australian sport.
Yet State of Origin remained his most complicated relationship.
Cleary has a winning record of 47 per cent in Origin – nine wins and 10 losses since making his Blues debut in Melbourne as a 20-year-old in 2018 – and has never played for a NSW team that won in the third game of the series. In other words, Origin never won the decision.
Rightly or wrongly, Cleary has never let go of a narrative that she “didn’t own Origin.”
It’s an inevitable story heading into the third installment of a series where NSW are lucky to still be alive, thanks largely to Kalyn Ponga’s ill-fated shoulder charge in game one that dramatically changed the course of the contest in Sydney.
Cleary has been asked repeatedly about his Origin record. But does this bother him?
“No, not actually,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s about our situation, this team and my job on this team.”
Cleary’s efforts in 2021 are often forgotten. The Blues beat Queensland 50-6 in Townsville before thrashing them 26-0 in the second match in Brisbane. Cleary missed the third game due to a shoulder dislocation he suffered in the second game. Despite his injury, he refused to leave the field.
While Martin believes it is “ridiculous” to suggest Cleary has somehow fallen short of expectations in Origin, NSW and Penrith captain Isaah Yeo is equally quick to jump to his long-time team-mate’s defence.
“Everybody’s talking about Joey Johns and 2005. That was one show. I’m sure there were some shows that he wasn’t super happy about either,” says Yeo.
“Probably the guy who felt like he belonged here was Wally Lewis.
“I feel like Nath is in such a sweet spot, it’s probably a byproduct of how good he is and how much success he’s had and what the expectation is.
“He doesn’t really inflate his own tires… and I don’t think he worries too much about other people’s opinions.”
There are clear themes that emerge when speaking to Cleary ahead of the blockbuster in Brisbane.
He is “excited” and grateful for the “opportunity” to play. He tries to “enjoy” the week and focus on his “preparations.”
These are clichés, of course, but they’re also taken straight from Cleary’s playbook: never too high; never too low. He doesn’t need another commentator, journalist or fan to remind him that he’s under pressure.
“It’s probably easy to think too much about the outcome or the pressure around it, and that destroys all the joy,” Cleary says. “This isn’t something I want to do.”
Cleary has made four Origin III appearances in eight series since 2018 (he has never featured for the Blues in 2024 due to a hamstring injury). Three of them were the deciders. The Blues lost it all.
Cleary missed out on two major awards won by NSW in recent years (2019 and 2024) due to injury. NSW have won four of their seven games without Cleary since 2018.
He guided NSW to series wins in 2018 and 2021 and was instrumental in the second game of the 2019 series, which the Blues equalized with a 38-6 win in Perth.
But an ankle injury suffered that night left Cleary “devastated” to miss out on the series’ conclusion, opening the door for Mitchell Pearce to reclaim the No. 7 jersey in Sydney with James Tedesco’s last-gasp try in a game etched in Origin history.
“It was disappointing,” Cleary says of not being a part of the third installment in 2019. “But I couldn’t do too much about it and it was just about getting behind the kids and supporting them.
“It was an incredible night and it was pretty cool to be in the crowd and watch it happen. It would be nice to do something similar.” [this week].”
Although few players in rugby league have more impact on a match, it would be lazy to say that a defeat in NSW automatically means a failure for Cleary. He is a master at orchestrating set plays, controlling the tempo and consistently directing his teams to the right areas of the field. His combination with Mitchell Moses, whose long-strike game is arguably the best in the NRL, will be crucial.
Even if Cleary has the game of his life, he could still finish on the losing side. He was named man of the match in the first leg, but walked away from the Blues’ 44-24 defeat at the MCG in the second leg disgusted with his own performance.
But the toughest was the third game in Sydney last year. Another decision maker. Another defeat.
Queensland stunned the Blues by taking a 20-0 lead at half-time – the game finished 24-12 – with Cleary once again facing uncomfortable questions about his Origin legacy.
After a brief briefing with parents Ivan and Rebecca in the corner of Accor Stadium, the NSW No.7 agreed to take a few questions from reporters.
“At the end of the day I didn’t [owned an Origin series]Cleary said after the match: “I’m the harshest self-definer, so I don’t think what other people say is out of line because I think that about myself anyway.”
“It’s sinking now. [I’m] “I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”
Now he has a chance at redemption. Cleary’s girlfriend, Matildas star Mary Fowler, last week described him as a perfectionist and said this was the area where he excelled.
The pressure will be intense, every pass, kick and tackle (he missed 10 goals in the second leg in Melbourne) will be scrutinised.
But rugby league is his drug of choice. Origin football’s intoxicating cauldron of highs, highs and lows is something he can’t get enough of.
“There are so many wonderful things and wonderful emotions, but if you fall short, it’s so disappointing,” Cleary says. “It’s the ups and downs of emotions. But I think that’s what brings me back. The joys of professional sport. You never know what you’re going to get. It’s just about dedicating yourself to doing your best.”
Origin series rarely follow the same trajectory. Even though this series was locked at 1-1, Queensland were the stronger team.
But the beauty of Origin is how quickly things can change. The Blues know this. Queensland knows this. While the Maroons are excited to put NSW to the sword in their own backyard, watch out for the underdogs.
“If it works, it works,” Cleary says. “Let’s hope so.”
Either way, around 10 p.m. Wednesday, Cleary will know one thing: whether he’ll be the hero or the villain.
Tom Decent is chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
