‘Privately seething’: NRL club filthy as Nathan Cleary secret exposed

Nathan Cleary’s own club was reportedly cut out of the loop as the star playmaker’s secret was finally confirmed by cameras.

This isn’t a good look for Laurie Daley and his lieutenants.

The NSW camp has been exposed in staggering fashion with the truth of Nathan Cleary’s fitness clear for all to see as soon as he stepped onto the Optus Stadium turf on Wednesday.

It was rumoured during the week Cleary had been put on a restricted training program and Channel 9 reported on Wednesday night Cleary had been reduced to “kicking by visualisation” during the Blues’ final training session.

All of this caught the Panthers by surprise, Code Sports reports.

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It comes as another bomb was dropped on the NSW camp on Wednesday with suggestions the Blues had mishandled Mitchell Moses’ training program before the Eels star suffered a serious calf injury which ruled him out of Game 2.

The strategy to protect Cleary may have been an over-reaction after Parramatta officials were reportedly left furious about the injury Moses suffered last week.

Mitchell Moses’ dodgy calf was always going to be a risk. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Scans showed Moses will be out of action for at least six weeks.

Code Sports reports Moses carried a calf complaint for several weeks and had been carefully managed by Eels high performance staff.

According to the report, NSW training staff were informed of the situation when Moses first went into camp.

“Eels officials are believed to be privately seething with the injury to their talismanic skipper,” leading NRL journalists Brent Read and Michael Carayannis reported.

Moses has already missed several games for Parramatta this season because of a foot injury.

Cleary, meanwhile, was hot and cold throughout the night as Queensland piled on 26 points in the first half before holding on for a thrilling 26-24 win.

According to Code Sports, the Panthers were not aware of any injuries Cleary was carrying that would have forced him to take such extreme measures.

He ran onto the field looking out of sorts and the sight of a compression bandage wrapped around his upper right leg was a damning sign of things to come.

Cleary had enough classy touches to justify his selection by NSW coach Laurie Daley, but the revelations that have since come out from Penrith shows something was not right.

It wasn’t his night. Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images.

Nathan Cleary still tested the Queensland defence.

Code Sports reports Penrith officials were “dumbfounded by Cleary’s apparent injury”.

The halfback handed goalkicking duties over to Zac Lomax — who kicked two goals from five attempts — and he relied on Jarome Luai and Latrell Mitchell to do the bulk of the downfield kicking. According to NewsWire, Cleary kicked just three times in the first half. He finished the game with 11 kicks for 295 metres, while he also ran five times.

The mystery of how Cleary went downhill so significantly after joining his teammates in NSW camp remains unknown — and it seems even the Panthers are out of the loop.

Former NSW coach Brad Fittler said it will be “interesting” to see how Cleary recovers.

Cleary will not play in the Panthers’ clash with the Warriors in New Zealand on Saturday, but is expected to be selected to play in the Panthers’ Round 17 battle with the Bulldogs on June 26.

“There is a problem, without a doubt,” Fittler said on Nine.

“It’s an upper thigh, around the groin (issue). He’s the ultimate professional. He’s one of those blokes who is kicking as much as anyone. He’s running as much as everyone. He’s doing every thing he can.

“Every now and again your body just says, ‘You know what, you have to slow up a little bit here’. So let’s just hope it calms down.”

Daley provided an update on Cleary’s groin injury in the press conference after Game 2.

“He just felt a bit tight in his groin so we wanted to sort of limit the amount of force he put through there,” Daley said.

“He’s a tough kid, Nathan. We know what a quality player he is, but he’s tough.”

Daley said the Blues had a plan to “limit the amount of force that he put through” his leg.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are confident Cleary will be fit to face the Bulldogs next Thursday.

Cleary took the line on a couple of times in the first half against Queensland and had a try disallowed for obstruction, but the Blues need him to be 100 per cent for the decider given they’re already without Moses.

The Panthers desperately need him to play the ladder-leading Bulldogs given they are one point outside the top eight and will be without their Origin stars for the game against the Warriors.

Originally published as ‘Privately seething’: NRL club filthy as Nathan Cleary secret exposed