Iceman Nathan Cleary sinks Tigers with clutch goals in Penrith’s 9-8 win

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Under fire all week for his form and the fact he is Ivan’s son, local hero Nathan Cleary stood up when it mattered most to kick Penrith to a thrilling 9-8 victory against Wests Tigers.

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Update: Come the hour, come the man. Nathan Cleary, you are the Ice Man.

Under fire all season for his form and the fact he is Ivan’s son, the 21-year-old Penrith halfback produced two massive clutch play moments when it mattered most on Friday night

to secure a dramatic come-from-behind 9-8 golden point victory over Wests Tigers.

In the clash that was billed as the grudge match of the season against the team his father walked out on last year, the Panthers trailed for most of the night before scoring

through Dylan Edwards in the dying minutes.

Nathan Cleary calmly slotted the sideline conversion after the fulltime siren had sounded to send the match into overtime.

Nathan Cleary celebrates his match-winning field goal. Picture: AAP

Then after watching his opposite playmaker Luke Brooks narrowly miss his second field goal of the night, the ice-cool Penrith No 7 again stepped up to nail a fabulous

40m kick that launched the home crowd into wild celebrations.

A clearly exhausted Ivan Cleary attempted to play down his emotions but he couldn’t hide his pride when asked how it felt to watch Nathan nail the match-winner: “What

do you think? I was pretty stoked. That doesn’t happen every day.

“It obviously added to all the theatre of the whole week, the whole build up that everyone drove. You just have to find a way to win sometimes. “He did that tonight.”

Wests Tigers players celebrate the win. Picture: AAP

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Two of rugby league’s greatest ever halfbacks had not long finished hammering the State of Origin hopes of Penrith playmakers James Maloney and Cleary before the

young halfback stood up with composure and class.

In Channel Nine commentary, Peter Sterling and Andrew Johns were debating if Maloney and Cleary could be picked for NSW on current form.

Sterling answered without hesitation: “No, no.”

Johns added the way the two are interacting on the field just lacks any rhythm. “I haven’t seen them put together two or three plays in a row,” Johns said. “They have to

get more ball in their hands.”

Josh Reynolds starred on his return to the top grade. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

But after a pretty ordinary game by his own standards, Cleary came up with two clutch moments that highlighted why the 21-year-old is such a phenomenal player for

his young age.

There is no disputing right now the Panthers are playing like strangers in attack but Friday night’s victory will be a massive morale booster ahead of taking on winless Gold

Coast next Friday night.

MADGE “PROUD”

Well, it wouldn’t have pleased the Tigers fans that turned up at Penrith. But you can bet Ivan Cleary would have went home a very relieved man.

And so did Michael Maguire, in a way. The Tigers coach wasn’t happy to lose but he was “proud” of the effort from his team.

The Tigers themselves had three shots at field goal with Brooks and Josh Reynolds missing in regular time, before Brooks went so desperately close before fading wide.

“Our game can be cruel at times,” Maguire said.

“I said to my players, I was actually proud of how they played.

“We have to learn how to win those sort of clutch moments. We definitely had our opportunities. It didn’t go our way.”

JUMPING JOSH IS BACK

Talk about hitting the ground running, livewire five-eighth Josh Reynolds hasn’t played NRL since round 16 last year because of injury.

But the way he played on Friday night is going to make for an interesting selection headache for Maguire when Benji Marshall returns from injury.

Reynolds set up both the Tigers tries for Corey Thompson and Ryan Matterson with cleverly weighted grubbed kicks and was an abundance of energy in attack and

defence.

Dylan Edwards had a tough night for Penrith before his late try. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

The aim is for Marshall to be back for the Easter Monday round six game against Parramatta.

Maguire praised Reynolds: “He has been very patient around getting his game to where he wants to get to. I thought he did a lot of good things. He performed very

well.”

But you had to feel sorry for Esan Marsters who missed all three of his shots at goal, one of which was a dead-set sitter in front after a penalty.

Ultimately, it was the difference.

EDWARD’S STRIKES BACK

Dylan Edwards had a shocker last round against Melbourne in Bathurst and his luck

didn’t change on Friday night. Well, not until almost the final minute.

As nicer a young bloke you will not meet, but right now the Penrith fullback just can’t

take a trick with a few more costly first half errors forcing his coach to shift him to the

wing and put Dallin Watene-Zelezniak at fullback.

Corey Thompson continued his strong form for the Tigers. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

But with the Tigers ahead 8-2 and fighting against the tide, the Panthers came up with

a right side shift and Edwards finally found himself in the right spot.

LISTEN! Pressure on the Clearys, Ponga’s missing spark and rich pickings for the Blues. Plus Matty’s confrontation with “The Animal”. Don’t miss this week’s episode of The Matty Johns podcast with Paul Kent and James Hooper.

Though it will be interesting to see if Cleary keeps him at fullback or instead goes

with Watene-Zelezniak for the game against the Titans.

PENRITH 9 (D Edwards try N Cleary 2 goals N Cleary field goal) bt WESTS TIGERS 8 (R Matterson C Thompson tries) in extra time at Panthers Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski. Crowd: 14,002.

Originally published as Iceman Nathan Cleary sinks Tigers with clutch goals in Penrith’s 9-8 win