Nathan Cleary overtakes Andrew Johns as NSW half aims to re-write unwanted legacy

Yahoo

10-07-2025

Nathan Cleary has already achieved just about everything in his rugby league career, but victory in a State of Origin decider is the one thing that has so far eluded him. The NSW halfback has the chance to cement his legacy as one of the greats of the game on Wednesday night in Sydney and win or lose, he'll overtake Blues legend Andrew Johns in the process.
Cleary will enter rarefied air when he runs onto Accor Stadium as he passes league 'Immortal' Johns and Mitchell Pearce as NSW's most-capped halfback. Penrith's four-time premiership winner would have reached the 17-game milestone sooner had it not been for injuries that ruled him out of five of the six Origin games played in 2023 and 2024 - including the Blues' win in last year's decider.
And while his father and Panthers coach Ivan Cleary admits it will be a special honour, he knows the halfback will be more concerned about leading his side to another series victory. "It's a big achievement obviously," the Penrith coach said. "But he'd be more interested in just playing well. Let's hope he does."
The Blues halfback is widely considered the greatest player of this generation but the one knock on Cleary is that he has never dominated an Origin series like some of the greats did. He admitted to a sense of 'envy' watching the Blues win the deciding Game 3 without him last year, when long-time halves partner Jarome Luai starred for the Blues.
Cleary and Luai won four grand finals together with Penrith but are yet to win an Origin decider playing alongside one another. The pair had less than a week to rekindle their chemistry before the Blues' Game 2 defeat in Perth, but Luai says with more preparation under their belt for Game 3, it will bring out the best in the Blues.
"Everyone would say the more prep you have, the more reps you get in the bank, the more confidence you have from your training. Basically it's just more confidence in the bank" Luai said. "I get tingles (thinking) about it, being back with a lot of guys that I've had a lot of success with. But I think it's all about putting that away now and focusing on what we can do next."
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Game 3 represents a massive opportunity for Cleary to banish the demons from defeats in the 2020 and 2022 Origin deciders. Injuries across the following two series prevented him from doing so but with an 80,000-strong crowd behind him in Sydney on Wednesday night, the stage is set for Cleary to write his name into Origin folklore.
'If you look at some of the greats who are coaching the teams – Laurie Daley and Billy Slater – they came up with some huge plays and owned Origin on certain occasions," former NSW halfback Brett Kimmorley said. 'Nathan doesn't need to do it because he's won grand finals on his own and helped Penrith win four comps, but his ability to put a masterclass in Origin is one thing that he hasn't done yet.
'If there's ever a moment set up for him to win a decider in Sydney, I think it's set up for his legacy to grow as it has already in his career.' And the Penrith champion says he'll be treating it just like the four-straight grand finals he's won with the Panthers.
'We're sort of just framing it like it's a grand final because it is," Cleary said. "It's sort of got that mentality and I'm looking forward to that challenge... Watching last year's one was incredible, but there was that sort of envy there that I wasn't able to be a part of it and play. It's come full circle now and I get the opportunity to be in one. These are the games that you want to play in.'
One of the only games left that Nathan Cleary has yet to win in his rugby league career... an Origin decider 👀🏆#NRL #StateofOrigin pic.twitter.com/ejEF54U9Lw
— Random Stats Guy (@randostatsguy) July 8, 2025
with AAP