1. Nathan Cleary was born on 14 November 1997 and is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League and Australia at international level.
47 Facts About Nathan Cleary
1. 2.
Widely considered one of the best players in the history of the game, Cleary won the Clive Churchill Medal in 2021 and 2023 as well as Dally M Halfback of the year in 2020 and 2021.
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Nathan Cleary has represented the NSW Blues in State of Origin, played for City NSW and played for Australia at international level.
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Nathan Cleary is the son of coach and former professional rugby league footballer Ivan Nathan Cleary who coaches him at the Penrith Panthers.
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Nathan Cleary spent a number of his childhood years living in Auckland, New Zealand while his father was playing for, and later coaching, the New Zealand Warriors.
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Nathan Cleary attended Sacred Heart College, Auckland for two years and, having grown up playing soccer, Cleary switched to rugby league during his pre-teens, playing at a junior level for the Mount Albert Lions in Auckland and the Penrith Brothers in Sydney.
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Nathan Cleary completed his HSC while attending St Dominic's College, Penrith in 2015, where he was a prefect.
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Nathan Cleary is the nephew of Josh Stuart and Jason Death.
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Nathan Cleary appeared for the Windsor Wolves in the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield in a handful of games, before being called into Penrith's National Youth Competition squad mid-season.
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Nathan Cleary was unavailable to play in Penrith's 2015 NYC Grand Final winning team due to his selection in the Australian Schoolboys team, whom he captained during their two match series against New Zealand under-18s.
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Nathan Cleary played 20 games, scoring 11 tries and kicking 109 goals for 262 points in his U20s career from 2015 to 2016.
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Nathan Cleary made his New South Wales Cup debut for the Penrith club in round 11, the only game he'd play in that competition in 2016.
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Two days after the signing, in round 13, Nathan Cleary made his NRL debut for the Penrith Panthers against the Melbourne Storm at five-eighth.
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Nathan Cleary was in the race for the rookie of the year award, but lost to the Gold Coast Titans halfback, Ashley Taylor.
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Nathan Cleary finished his debut season with 3 tries and 52 goals from 15 matches.
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Nathan Cleary was the Penrith club's highest point-scorer with 116 points.
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Nathan Cleary was rewarded with being named in the emerging NSW Blues squad.
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Nathan Cleary was named in Penrith's squad for the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines.
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Nathan Cleary finished the season as highest pointscorer in the NRL with a total of 228 points, the youngest player to achieve this since 1913.
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Nathan Cleary played in all 26 games for the Penrith club, scoring 11 tries and kicking 92 goals.
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Nathan Cleary became the youngest player ever to score 200 points in a season.
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Nathan Cleary played in all 3 Origin games that year for the Blues at halfback.
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In Round 4, Nathan Cleary kicked a goal from the sideline after the final siren to send their game against the Wests Tigers into extra time.
24.
On 27 May, Nathan Cleary was selected at halfback for New South Wales in Game 1 of the 2019 State of Origin series despite his lacklustre start to the year and with Penrith only managing 2 wins from their first 9 games.
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Nathan Cleary put on a master class despite this game having no impact on the finals as Penrith finished a disappointing 10th.
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Nathan Cleary played a total of 21 games for Penrith in the 2020 NRL season including the grand final.
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Nathan Cleary was selected by New South Wales for the 2020 State of Origin series.
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Nathan Cleary played poorly in the game 1 loss, with Andrew Johns calling for him to be dropped.
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Nathan Cleary played a total of 20 games for Penrith in the 2021 NRL season including the club's 2021 NRL Grand Final victory over South Sydney.
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Nathan Cleary was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for being man of the match.
31.
Nathan Cleary was named Dally M Halfback of the year.
32.
On 29 May, Nathan Cleary was selected by New South Wales to play in game one of the 2022 State of Origin series.
33.
On 30 July, Nathan Cleary was suspended for five games over the tackle which meant he would miss the remainder of the 2022 regular season.
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Nathan Cleary played for 17 games for Penrith throughout the year including their 2022 NRL Grand Final victory over Parramatta.
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Nathan Cleary played for Australia in their 2021 Rugby League World Cup final victory over Samoa.
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On 22 May, Nathan Cleary was selected by New South Wales for game one of the 2023 State of Origin series.
37.
Nathan Cleary won the Clive Churchill medal as man of the match after he inspired the Penrith side to come back from a 16 point deficit with less than 20 minutes to go, the largest successful Grand Final turnaround of NRL history despite suffering a grade 3 torn PCL in the ninth minute of the match.
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Nathan Cleary assisted Moses Leota and Stephen Crichton, before scoring the winning try himself with less than three minutes remaining.
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On 24 February, Nathan Cleary played in Penrith's 2024 World Club Challenge final loss against the Wigan Warriors.
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Nathan Cleary scored a try during the first half of the match.
41.
In round 24, Nathan Cleary suffered a shoulder injury in Penrith's narrow loss to Melbourne and was ruled out for an indefinite period.
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Nathan Cleary is co-owner of Drink West Brewery with Tyson Pedro and Tai Tuivasa.
43.
In October 2023, Nathan Cleary announced his support for the Yes campaign for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
44.
On 28 April 2020, Nathan Cleary was fined $10,000 by the NRL after breaking isolation protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
45.
Nathan Cleary was pictured at his home with a group of women on Anzac Day, and the photo was uploaded to social media.
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Nathan Cleary later apologised to the Penrith club and his teammates over the incident.
47.
For lying about the incident, Nathan Cleary was hit with a two-match ban as well as a $30,000 fine.