NRL 2024: Mavrik Geyer has been spent the last three weeks bashing teammate Nathan Cleary

Penrith tearaway Mavrik Geyer has spent the last three weeks bashing superstar Nathan Cleary in a bid to get the halfback’s shoulder ready for the club’s quest of a fourth-straight title.

Panthers player Nathan Cleary at the Panthers Rugby League Academy. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Nathan Cleary has revealed young Panthers tearaway Mavrik Geyer’s role in putting his damaged shoulder through a finals-intensity fitness test as the Penrith superstar prepares to again put his body on the line in the quest for a fourth straight NRL premiership.

The son of club legend, Mark Geyer, has been instrumental in ensuring Cleary’s shoulder got a proper workout since he returned to full contact training three weeks ago.

It comes as Panthers hard man Liam Martin laughed off suggestions he would need to run protection for his halfback in Saturday’s NRL preliminary final against Cronulla at Accor Stadium.

Or that Cleary, who is one the NRL’s best defensive halves, even needed the NSW Blues firebrand as added security on Penrith’s right edge, where the pair defend side-by-side.

“No, he always laughs when people try to tell him I’m his bodyguard, because he reckons he’s my bodyguard!,” Martin said of Cleary.

“He’s sweet to defend alongside and it gives you that extra confidence knowing that he’s going to stand up and do his role and you don’t have to protect him.”

Martin is more qualified than most to comment on Cleary’s defending, having played alongside him since their SG Ball days nine years ago.

“We’ve played together for a long time now and know how one another works and defends, so I’m really looking forward to doing it again this weekend,” Martin said.

Mav Geyer has been putting Nathan Cleary’s shoulder to the test. Picture: NRL Photos

“You got a little glimpse of his confidence. We did a little opposed session against our NSW Cup side and I think a couple of the boys went a hundred miles an hour at him and he was just throwing himself at him and it gave you that confidence heading into the game, that he was sweet.”

And the main man running full pace at Cleary has been Geyer who, at 15kg heavier, did his best to imitate damaging Sydney Roosters forward Angus Crichton ahead of their week one finals clash.

The rising forward will play the role of Cronulla’s Teig Wilton on the left edge during this week’s contact sessions to prepare Cleary’s shoulder for another physical onslaught in their grand final qualifier.

“He likes to go pretty hard at training so … no, it’s actually been really good. I actually needed that just for confidence, through training before that Roosters game,” Cleary said of Geyer, who has played 11 NRL games for the Panthers since making his debut in Round 4.

“With Angus (Crichton) running at me, it was going to be a tough test – just about as tough as it gets – so Mav did a good job of that and helped me out.”

Cleary admitted he was still rehabbing his right shoulder, and the halfback will take the same studious approach in devising a game plan to pick apart Cronulla under the NRL finals format where he has noticed a trend of referees being more inclined to put away the whistle.

Last weekend’s two semi-final clashes only had a single set restart in each of the games, compared to 43 restarts in the final round of the regular season.

Cleary said he and halves partner Jarome Luai had every intention of making the most of the NRL’s new edict on Saturday night.

Nathan Cleary is fit and firing. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Hopefully it’s like that for the rest of this finals series,” Cleary said.

“I enjoy those kinds of games. You really see the fatigue start coming into the game and it opens up for guys like me, Romey and the spine players to have more control over it.

“We like that kind of footy but I think most teams would say they like it as well.

“Especially as a fan, I definitely prefer watching games with less penalties and less set restarts.

“You tend to see that a bit more, when it comes to this time of the season, and also games like Origin.

“It’s no wonder that they’re the best games to watch because it just lets it flow a bit.”

Originally published as NRL 2024: Mavrik Geyer has been spent the last three weeks bashing teammate Nathan Cleary