Rumour mill goes up a gear over Nathan Cleary code switch

Two Wallabies legends talked up the chances of the star Panthers playmaker jumping to rugby. It’s just the sort of challenge Cleary would relish.

Nathan Cleary during the Panthers’ game against the Broncos. Picture: Getty Images

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Rugby is the game they play in heaven, but has the rumour Wallabies greats Tim Horan and Morgan Turinui floated about Penrith Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary switching codes been plucked from their arse?

“I’ve heard it totally separate, he’s quite keen to come to rugby,” Horan said on Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven on Thursday.

Turinui gave the story legs when he told Nine’s Sport Sunday: “Tim Horan can’t keep a secret ... there is interest, I’ve heard, on both sides.”

If Cleary wants to switch codes, it’s news to his coach and father, Ivan. He’s been taking calls and texts for six months about a potential defection. He told me on Monday the speculation was incorrect.

It’s also news to Nathan Cleary’s long-time manager, George Mimis, who told me he hasn’t had a conversation with anyone in involved with any rugby competition anywhere in the world. Ever.

Face of the game: Nathan Cleary after leading NSW to victory in game one of the State of Origin series last week. Picture: Adam Head

Despite this, Rugby Australia is hardly going out of its way to pour cold water on the story, trotting out a prosaic line about being prepared to talk to whoever is interested in joining their sport while also insisting its happy with the playmakers in its system.

Which entirely makes sense, of course, because Australian rugby is flush for options at No.10. You could count them on one hand.

The easy assumption is Horan nor Turinui have floated the rumour to stir interest in rugby during rugby league’s State of Origin series.

Neither man strikes me as the type of blow-hard commentator who’d run such a rumour up the flagpole. Horan claimed in April French rugby clubs were courting Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou and a few days later reports emerged about Top 14 club Pau’s interest in signing him.

Perhaps the rumour dates to Hamish McLennan’s time as chairman.

In 2023, following the signing of Joseph Suaalii, McLennan drew up a hitlist of rugby league players he wanted to go after. Soon after, an intermediary approached him, telling him a

handful of NRL players were interested in meeting with him. One of those players, according to the intermediary, was Nathan Cleary. The lunch didn’t happen because McLennan was ousted in a boardroom coup in November 2023.

How RA powerbrokers spend the truckloads of alleged money coming from the British and Irish Lions tour and the 2027 Rugby World Cup is a matter for them, but making a genuine play for Cleary would make sense.

The last time RA went after the best player in the NRL was 2004 when the Waratahs courted Newcastle Knights halfback Andrew Johns. There’s still debate about how that deal fell apart, although there’s no dispute it divided rugby at the time.

While the likes of Wallabies coach Eddie Jones insisted Johns would be a revelation, others thought he was too old (he was 30) and injury prone (he was coming off an ACL rupture) to sign on significant money. A narrative was spun in hindsight that Johns’ history with recreational substances, which came to light after he retired, was the reason.

Ivan and Nathan Cleary after winning the Panthers’ fourth straight premiership last year. Picture: Getty

Cleary is 27 and battled shoulder and hamstring injuries in recent years. He’s also not off contract until the end of 2027, which rules him out of the World Cup. You can’t imagine him asking for a release before then, especially now with his side 14th on the NRL ladder.

He’d also come with a significant price tag. He’s taken unders to stay with his father at Penrith for years. I can’t see him extending the courtesy to rugby.

Nevertheless, it could be a challenge Cleary would relish.

He has the attributes a No.10 needs, from his organisational play, his running game, and his repertoire of kicks, including his yucky floating bombs that haunt opposition fullbacks.

In the second half of Penrith’s win over Parramatta on Sunday, he shrugged off the unwarranted criticism about his Origin performance for NSW and turned in a masterclass, setting up tries, kicking 40-20s, and landing sideline conversions.

Since he started dating Matildas star Mary Fowler, he’s been linked to almost every competition west of Penrith because she plays for Manchester City in the Women’s Premier League. He’s also been linked, with his father, to the NRL’s franchise in Papua New Guinea because Fowler’s mother comes from Port Moresby.

Nathan Cleary with Matildas star Mary Fowler. Picture: Instagram

With rumours come the theories, most of which don’t make sense.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes and earns a couple of million euros in Europe and is available for the Wallabies as well,” Turinui said. “Which perhaps means you don’t see him in Super Rugby, but there’s interest in him in playing international rugby.”

That demonstrates a deep misunderstanding of what Nathan Cleary is about. He’s not motivated by money. He’s not one to bank the cheque and roll the arm over in French rugby, which is a part-time competition in comparison to the rigour of the NRL.

He’s looking for a challenge. He’s the first to arrive at Panthers headquarters each day and the last the leave. Even his father isn’t sure why he spends so much time at work, nor what he does with it.

For the record, Nathan didn’t not return calls or text messages on Monday, but let’s finish with these remarks from the YKTR podcast from late 2023 when he was asked about switching codes.

“The exciting thing about union is it’s on that global stage,” he said. “If you were to do it for Australia, it would be such a big thing. Australia has neglected union for a while. It hasn’t been a thing. That part of it is an exciting prospect. I couldn’t see myself doing it, but there’s a little part of me that wants to try it out. With my personality, I’d have to be 100 per cent all-in. It would take a lot of hard work. I’d have to know the game inside out before pulling on an Australian jersey. I wouldn’t want it given to me because of what I’ve done in league. I’d want to earn it.”