NRL Coaching Survey: Nathan Cleary rated the best player in rugby league

A landslide winner as the best player in the game in News Corp’s annual survey of NRL coaches, Nathan Cleary has opened up on how he fuels the burning desire to get better.

Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary has revealed how putting some distance between himself and rugby league over the off-season has recharged his batteries and fuelled his motivation for another title shot.

Cleary, a landslide winner as the best player in the game in News Corp’s annual survey of NRL coaches, spent his off-season off the rugby league grid, much of it in the company of his partner, Matildas superstar Mary Fowler.

Cleary holidayed in England immediately after the Panthers’ grand final win over Melbourne and then enjoyed some R-and-R with Fowler in Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands.

Rugby league was the last thing on his mind.

Now it is time to switch on again and having undergone off-season shoulder surgery, he has returned with a burning desire to get better and his sights set on claiming a fifth consecutive premiership.

Asked how he and the Panthers managed to maintain the rage after a run of successive titles, Cleary replied: “I think it’s the constant pursuit of getting better. I believe within myself, and in this group, that we have got so much growth to go.

“I truly believe that and it is something I strive for each day. I think the winning habit comes from our training and the competition we have at training.

“Any time there’s a drill, there’s people trying to win it and competing. It makes it easier to do that on game day.”

Ivan and Nathan Cleary after their fourth premiership. Picture: NRL Photos/Gregg Porteous

LIVING THE DREAM

Cleary’s life is an open book.

You only have to visit his social accounts to get an insight into the Penrith superstar, who juggles a brilliant rugby league career with burgeoning business interests and a blossoming romance with Fowler.

Cleary gives every impression that he is living the dream.

“That is just how I feel and I don’t mind sharing that with people,” he said.

“I think a lot of it’s sort of me being able to control the narrative too. I think people are going to find out anyway what I’m doing.

“So I may as well be able to post it from my perspective and control the narrative as much as I can. There’s still some things that I like to keep private.

“But just in general, yeah, I think that’s what a lot of people like to see.”

Asked whether he can switch off totally from rugby league, Cleary said: “In the off-season, yeah I can. During the season, not really.

“You know, the mind is always ticking over. I like it because when you get the break, you enjoy it, but then by the end of the break you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m ready to get back into work.’

“And then you come in here with a fire in your belly to try and improve and put everything you can into getting better.

“I was lucky the club let me go over to England before the surgery. It wasn’t too painful. Everyday life wasn’t bad with the shoulder. So I got to enjoy that.

“And then when I got back I got the surgery and just did my best to recover and be right for pre-season.”

Social media can be a toxic environment but Cleary insists the vast majority of feedback he receives is positive.

“It’s usually pretty positive and a lot of people like to tell me that Mary’s a better sportsperson than me, which is probably true to be fair,” Cleary said.

“But it’s pretty fun. It’s a good life.”

CHASING GREATNESS

Cleary may be the best in the eyes of the NRL coaches, but he isn’t satisfied.

He appreciates the coaches’ gong but he insists that being recognised as the best player in the game isn’t his priority.

Earning the respect of his teammates is.

“It’s very humbling, to be honest,” he said.

“It’s probably not something you think about too often. There’s a lot of chatter around it in punters circles and to hear that from coaches in the game, it’s pretty cool.

“But it’s not something that drives me.

“I think it’s a nice thing to hear but those sorts of things definitely don’t drive me.

“I think the respect of my teammates and all that is what drives me and just trying to be the best version of myself for them and trying to elevate them as well.

“I think that’s what I get the biggest kick out of.”

Cleary has paid a price for being the best.

Another off-season operation meant he was in doubt for the opening game of the season in Las Vegas, although he has declared himself a certain starter.

“The back end of my off-season, there was a week after surgery where I just stayed at mum and dad’s place and got looked after by them,” Cleary said.

“It was lucky. The surgeon did a great job.

“I was only in the sling for two weeks, so pretty much as soon as I was out of the sling, I was trying to get around and do a bit of walking and all that.

“It wasn’t until I got back to training when I could start running again. So it was just trying to build that fitness base.”

NEW CHALLENGES

Jarome Luai’s departure in the off-season to the Wests Tigers means for the first time in a long time, Cleary will be forced to break in a new halves partner.

The Panthers targeted Parramatta youngster Blaize Talagi to help fill the void and Cleary has relished getting to know one of the game’s emerging stars.

The early days of their relationship were forged in rehabilitation as both recovered from shoulder surgery.

Talagi has also taken the locker beside Cleary, giving him the opportunity to pick the brain of the world’s best player daily.

Asked what he liked about Talagi, Cleary said: “I think his willingness to learn. I think it would have been easy for him as a young kid with the season he had last year, going really well, to come here with a little bit of an ego thinking he has already made it.

“But he came here and just knuckled down, really wanted to learn our system and what we’re about.

“I thought he really ripped into his rehab as well. It was really impressive. Blaize is my locker buddy as well.

“He is right next to me. At the moment it’s just been trying to get to know him as a person and strike up that relationship.

“He is 19. I am like it has gone so quick. I remember when I was 18 just going through.”

He didn’t necessarily need it, but Cleary has taken his own motivation from the departure of Luai.

“That is probably a bit of motivation for me as well - obviously with "Romey" leaving, he’s on his new journey, but it’s sort of a new journey for me too to be able to help whoever the five-eighth is come in and do really well and reach his full potential,” Cleary said.

“I find that pretty exciting.”

Originally published as NRL Coaching Survey: Nathan Cleary rated the best player in rugby league