Nathan Cleary rushes to Mary Fowler amid Matildas furore

Panthers star Nathan Cleary has broken camp in Las Vegas, rushing to be with Mary Fowler with the Matildas in crisis.

Nathan Cleary has made a late dash to be with girlfriend Mary Fowler after a nightmare week for the Matildas star.

The Panthers premiership hero has reportedly broken camp from his Penrith teammates in Las Vegas and has flown to San Diego, California, where the Matildas were humbled 2-1 by Colombia in the final match of their disastrous SheBelieves Cup campaign.

As first reported by Code Sports, Cleary used his day-off in Sin City to make the 500km journey to spend some rare personal time with his partner.

He flew back in time to participate in his team’s official signing session at the Rugby League Fan Hub at Resorts World on the Las Vegas strip on Friday morning.

His journey to San Diego comes at a time when the Matildas are dominating headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Nathan Cleary and Mary Fowler play games on Instagram.

Star couple Nathan Cleary and Mary Fowler. Photo: Instagram

Veteran comedian Marty Sheargold was shown the door at Triple M after making “disgusting” comments about the Matildas.

Sheargold, a regular member of Network 10’s Have You Been Paying Attention show, said during Monday’s edition of The Marty Sheargold Show the women’s national team reminded him of “year 10 girls”.

Among several other comments, Sheargold went on to say: “Now I’m sorry to undermine the whole sport, but that’s what I think of it so you can stick it up your arse.”

Cleary addressed the scandalous comments for the first time on Thursday, telling Code Sports: “It’s pretty sad that people are still saying that sort of stuff.

“It’s just unnecessary.”

Sheargold has apologised for his comments. He departed from the iconic radio network by mutual agreement.

The radio host made his comments after the Matildas had lost their opening matches of the tournament, 4-0 against Japan and 2-1 against the United States.

“There’s something wrong with the Matildas,” Sheargold began.

“They had that wonderful tournament out here where we all fell in love with them, even though they didn’t make the quarters.

“You know what they remind me of? Year 10 girls,” Sheargold continued, as laughter rang out in the background.

“All the infighting and all the friendship issues, ‘the coach hates me and I hate bloody training and Michelle’s being a bitch’.

“Now I’m sorry to undermine the whole sport, but that’s what I think of it so you can stick it up your arse.”

Nathan Cleary and Mary Fowler post from there holiday to the Whitsundays recently Picture Instagram

Recent Instagram images of Penrith's Nathan Cleary and Mary Fowler. Picture Instagram @_nathancleary.

Cleary and Fowler have previously discussed the difficulties they face in their long-distance relationship.

“It’s been tough, it’s definitely not something that I ever thought I’d do. I think it sort of helped for us that as soon as we met each other, and we sort of got talking, we knew it was going to lead down to that path and if we wanted to do it, it was going to be long distance,” Cleary said on the Keegan and Company podcast.

The couple went public with their relationship in April, 2024, but have since admitted they began seeing each other in November, 2023.

Cleary’s teammates, meanwhile, remained in Vegas where they were able to enjoy some fun before their season-opening match against the Sharks on Sunday (AEDT).

Those teammates would have enjoyed hearing other comments made by Cleary this week.

The star halfback was previously mentioned as a desirable target for Rugby Australia to chase ahead of the 2027 World Cup, to be played in Australia.

The NSW State of Origin playmaker has since given a blunt response.

“Not really to be honest,” Cleary said when asked whether he had any interest in playing rugby union, per Code Sports.

“It’s something I’ve thought about but I don’t know, I’m really happy in league and league’s always been my passion.

“It’s always been my love and it’s been something that I’ve grown up just adoring to be honest.


“I think the thought of union is enticing in some respects, but just having to learn a whole new game and all that, I don’t know.


“I think league’s the one for me.”

Originally published as Nathan Cleary rushes to Mary Fowler amid Matildas furore