Three weeks ago they were in a scramble to reach top 8. Three weeks ago we identified 3 teams that could potentially challenge the Storm this year. The Panthers weren’t one of them.

Even earlier on in the season their own coach said there was no way they would challenge for the Premiership. However at round 25 the Penrith Panthers are a different team. A team with a different game plan led around the park by a 20 year old who looks like he has been playing for 10 years.

Nathan Cleary

If you haven’t heard the name Nathan Cleary, crawl out from under the rock, turn the television on to the next Panthers game and hit the volume button up until it can’t go any further.

Rugby League Pedigree

Nathan is the son of Ivan, former Rugby League player with the majority of his career spent at the Roosters.

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Ivan was a dangerous ball running full back who was also an astute goal kicker. Remind you of anyone? He took on coaching when his career ended and before his current position at the Tigers his coaching achievements include taking the 2004 Roosters Premier League side to a premiership win.

In 2011 he coached the Warriors to their second Grand Final Appearance. Nathan Cleary grew up in a household and a community of Rugby League. With a successful coach as his father it is no wonder he reads the game so well.

Such Skill at Such a Young Age

At 20 years of age he is currently sitting on top of the point scoring aggregate in season 2017, and if he finishes on top of that list he will be the youngest player in history to do so. What makes Nathan Cleary so skilful is how he reads a game and has the rare talent of knowing when to run and when to pass, it’s instinctive. And he doesn’t move away from that instinct.

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A lot of young halves are coached to look for defensive structures and when they see certain things in a play it informs their next move. Cleary’s next move is defined by feeling and more often than not that feeling is right. He also does what not many players in the game do and that is push up in the play.

Nathan Cleary is always in the contest. So often he takes the last pass after he has instigated the first. Or he puts himself in the last line of defence (look at his match winning try saving tackle against Coen Hess of the Cowboys). Other players that do this are the likes of Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith. Are you seeing the trend yet?

Young Shoulders Cool Head

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The largest weapon in Nathan Cleary’s arsenal is his temperament. He doesn’t try and force the contest. He lets the game come to him and strikes when the opportunity arises. When a lot of playmakers sense their team is behind either the pace of the game or more evidently on the scoreboard, they try and create things. They push passes, force kicks and look for miracle plays. Cleary understands a couple of things at a very young age. The game is 80 minutes long and it doesn’t matter if you win in the 80th minute. There is a time and place for everything.

How He Turned the Season

No disrespect to Matt Moylan, he is a class player. But since Moylan’s injury, Nathan Cleary has taken over the side. Matt Moylan is basically a number 6 with a number 1 on is back and in the modern era there isn’t much difference. However he was pointing the Panthers attack in a different direction. One of the flaws in Moylan’s game is that he tries the things above that Cleary doesn’t. He goes for the miracle offload or the low percentage kick and you could see in his game he’d get frustrated having to balance that with game management.

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What Matt Moylan was missing was a game manager, a player like Cleary who can steer the park around at first receiver and then leave Moylan at 6 to do what he does best.

Premiership Hopes

Before the season a lot of people had the Penrith Panthers as special. Whether they read their own press or the pressure got to them, they had a disastrous start to the season. A Couple of weeks out of Origin no one really gave them a chance of even making the Semi Finals. And especially not after the Bunnies put 42 points on them in Round 17.

Now the Nathan Cleary led Panthers have won 7 on the trot. If results go their way over the next two weeks they could finish as high as 4th and get two trips to the buffet in September. They are the sort unpredictable side that the Melbourne Storm hate. Although season 2017 was almost a foregone conclusion, the Panthers might be the side to put a bit of spark into September.

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A lot of Rugby League experts are already talking up Cleary’s chances of Origin in 2018. To them I say cool your jets. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Sit back and just enjoy Nathan Cleary now. Enjoy what he does week on week and soak up watching one Rugby Leagues generation next.

by Darrin Seath – contributor