Nathan Cleary opens up about Mary Fowler romance amid major call on NRL future
NRL superstar Nathan Cleary has lifted the lid on his relationship with Matildas forward Mary Fowler and what it means for his career.
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Nathan Cleary has revealed Matildas superstar Mary Fowler has had a huge impact on who he is as a person and that in turn has seen him have better performances on the footy field.
Australia’s sporting power couple have been together since 2023 and Aussie fans have been obsessed with every detail of their blossoming love story.
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And while dating can be a distraction for anyone, for Fowler and Cleary, their on-the-field performances have only gotten better.
Since being together Cleary has won back-to-back premierships and has by most accounts become the best player in the NRL.
While Fowler went from a fringe member of the City first team and a promising Matildas player, to a regular starter for her club side and arguably the Matildas’ best player in the last 12 months.
And on Sunday night (AEDT) Fowler become the first player in Women’s Super League history to have two or more score involvements in four consecutive games.
Fowler laid on two assists for Khadija Shaw as Manchester City took a 2-0 lead into half-time against Liverpool.
City ended up going on to win 4-0 as Fowler showed once again that she is an important core member of the English side.
Nathan Cleary opens up about relationship with Mary Fowler
The pair spent the end of last year in England, before the Panthers No. 7 returned down under for shoulder surgery.
The couple then spent the Christmas break together in Australia, where they took a road trip together to Far North Queensland – where the Matildas star has extended family.
But they’re now back to reality, with Fowler returning to England to play for club side Manchester City as Cleary races the clock in Australia to be fit for Round 1 in Las Vegas.
And in a rare insight into the pair’s relationship, the Penrith halfback said they are making long-distance work, while shutting down any talks of him moving over to England at the end of the season.
Cleary spends most of his time in Australia playing NRL and admitted in December that it wasn’t easy being so far away from Fowler.
This sparked claims he could look for an early exit from his Panthers deal and try his hand at the English Super League, given the fact he has achieved basically all he can in the NRL.
But Cleary shut that down and said for now he just looks forward to talking to her after games and says they are making it work the best they can as he sent an ominous warning to his NRL rivals, declaring Fowler is helping him become an even better player.
“It’s always a nice thing to look forward to after a game, and getting to see her on FaceTime,” Cleary told The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘She’s still learning about the game – she never watched footy. The only player she knew was Johnathan Thurston.
“She makes me happy, and that definitely helps – she’s super supportive, and that’s what I love about her.”
Having completed the four-peat with Penrith, you couldn’t blame Cleary for being a bit complacent, but in an update that should terrify rival NRL teams, the 27-year-old believes with everything off the field in the right place things can go even better for him in 2025.
“It could,” Cleary said when asked if life could be better.
“Nothing is ever perfect. You’re constantly in pursuit of happiness – I don’t know what that actually means. But the feeling I have is if everything is going well off the field, you usually play pretty well on it. And I definitely feel like that at the moment.
“Mary is good at foreseeing the future, and how she wants to plan it out. I’m the opposite, I don’t want to look into the future too much; I’m enjoying life right now.”
For now, Cleary’s main focus is trying to be right for Round 1, with the Panthers star no certainty to line up in the curtain raiser against Cronulla.
The Penrith playmaker is understood to have got through a scrimmage match last week without any major issues to his shoulder, however, is understood to still be in doubt for Vegas.
Cleary had major shoulder surgery in the off-season after he was limited to just 13 appearances last year due to a couple of serious hamstring injuries as well as the shoulder issue he had to navigate throughout the finals.
But his Panthers teammate Liam Martin believes Cleary will be there come Round 1 and says he is doing everything in his power to be fit in time.
“He’s looking really good,” Martin said.
“He’s back doing full training with us and is coming along well. He’s doing everything in his power to be right (for round 1) and hopefully, he’ll be there.
“It’s a credit to him (how quickly he’s able to recover). His diligence is second to none and he does everything in his power. He doesn’t take any shortcuts in his diet or his recovery or sleep.
“You can see why he’s able to come back a lot quicker and better than most people. It’s incredible to see.”
– With NCA NewsWire
Originally published as Nathan Cleary opens up about Mary Fowler romance amid major call on NRL future
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