Cleary's tall poppy syndrome exposed

Perth Now

15-07-2025

Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes has leapt to the defence of Nathan Cleary, who he says is a victim of tall poppy syndrome following last week's shock State of Origin defeat.
The former Dally M Medal winner has warned the rest of the NRL that the Panthers star could take his game to scary heights after his Blues heartbreak.
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A shattered Cleary spoke with humility after NSW lost game three at home and conceded he was yet to own the Origin arena after falling to an 0-3 record in series deciders after the Maroons rallied around skipper Cameron Munster and played a faultless opening 67 minutes.
The discourse around Cleary has ranged from him being the GOAT (greatest of all time) to someone who can't win the big one, which doesn't quite stack up given he's won four titles in a row and is doing things we've never seen on a footy field. Nicho Hynes (right) is no stranger to criticism. Richard Dobson Credit: News Corp Australia
Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon was stunned by the criticism Cleary copped after the decider, and Hynes took it a step further in the sheds after his side's win over the Dolphins.
'It can be challenging at times,' said Hynes, who now has a private Instagram account and blocks out all the outside noise having copped similar criticism after losing games for NSW.
'In the past I've let it get to me a fair bit, but I've put things in place at the moment so I don't see any of the stuff that's being spoken about me as long as the coaching staff, my teammates and my family value what I'm doing for the club and the effort I'm putting in.
'I felt for Nathan the other night. Although I haven't seen any of what's going on, I have heard whispers around and people talking about what he's going through and the things he's been copping.
'He's a four-time premiership winner in a row, he's tactically probably the best player in our game. I think Munster's the best football player we've had for a long time in the game, but Nathan's tactically so good and Queensland just lifted the other night.
NRL: Penrith Panthers' Ivan Cleary and Nathan Cleary spoke to the media after their side's victory against the Parramatta Eels.
'They lifted, the whole state lifted and the whole team did for Munster and it just goes like that sometimes. As a halfback, you do wear a lot of it and that just comes with being the No.7 on a rugby league team, it's like the quarterback in the NFL.
'I know he strives for perfection and there are days sometimes it just doesn't turn out. He's going to come back better for it.
'It's like me, I always strive for perfection and I'll never reach it, but I'm going to keep trying and I'm going to keep working hard for this club and put my best foot forward and not worry about what people have to say.
'I know what I'm doing and if anyone could do a better job they would be. They just sit on the couch and watch the footy and have their opinion when their opinion doesn't really matter.
'You guys in the media have your opinion because you have to, it's your job. You write about it and I don't listen to it. I just keep working hard, doing my best for this team and sometimes you don't get the win.
'There's always a winner and a loser and we've been losing at the moment and that's fair enough, some criticism will come our way and I've just got to deal with it, keep moving on and keep fighting.'
Baseball legend Reggie Jackson had a famous quote back in the day that 'Fans don't boo nobodies', and that was on show on Sunday when Eels supporters booed Cleary when he was shown on the bench before the Penrith playmaker came on and led his side to victory.
'It's the Australian way sometimes. They want to bring people down all the time, whether you're at the top of your game or you're not or you're a high-profile person,' Hynes said.
'This is tall poppy syndrome and in Australia it's real. They just want to bring everyone down.
'In our game there is only one winner at the end of the day in October and only one halfback wins it every year. Nathan Cleary's been that one.
'People coming at me, are they saying every other halfback is a failure in this competition? There's only one person who gets to win it, one No.7 wins it every year, so all of us other halfbacks are chasing that.
'Are they calling Mitchell Moses a failure? I don't think so because he's a great player, won an Origin series last year and he hasn't won a comp yet.'
State of Origin: Nathan Cleary's performance of the 2025 State of Origin has come under criticism as he remains yet to win a decider.
Hynes said he didn't need external validation and was only focused on the opinions of his teammates, coaches and those close to him, but he'd happily offer his praise to Cleary if he thought it would help.
'I thought about messaging him over the last couple of days and saying 'you're the GOAT, don't worry about it',' he said.
'But I know what it's like when people message you telling you not to worry about the things that are being said about you. You straight away think about what's being said.
'He's a professional, he's been through it all before. I have been thinking about him a lot, I just didn't want to be another person to message saying 'don't worry about it' because I don't even know what's going on and what's been said.
'The boys come in and say 'what happened about this person?' I don't know because I just don't care anymore about what's going on in this world, about rugby league.
'If he does see this, I honestly am thinking about him and I do love him as a person. He's a genuine, really good person.
'I'm scared for the competition now, how he's going to bounce back.'