{"id":236109,"date":"2025-10-23T22:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236109\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T22:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:42:13","slug":"nathan-cleary-opens-up-on-mary-fowler-family-plans-and-future-nrl-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236109\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary opens up on Mary Fowler, family plans and future NRL contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re both in the middle of our sporting journeys and enjoying that. When the day comes, I would absolutely love that. But yeah, it\u2019s just not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the streets of London, pictures of Nathan Cleary alongside Englishman Herbie Farnworth are on bus stops.<\/p>\n

\"Marry<\/p>\n

Marry Fowler and Nathan Cleary.Credit: Instagram<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the poster boy of Australian rugby league in a city that has somewhat lost touch with rugby league.<\/p>\n

Over here, though, he\u2019s Mary\u2019s boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone said that to me today as well,\u201d Cleary says as he bursts into laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said: \u2018oh, nice to meet you, but I just want to let you know, I love your girlfriend more\u2019. And I was like \u2018yeah, same\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary at Kangaroos training.Credit: NRL Photos<\/p>\n

While his father Ivan, mother Bec and brother Jett are all flying to England to watch him play for Australia, Fowler, who is based in Manchester, won\u2019t be at the game at Wembley on Saturday.<\/p>\n

They will, however, reunite when the Kangaroos head north for the final two games of the series in Liverpool and Leeds.<\/p>\n

Cleary is uncomfortable in the spotlight. You won\u2019t find him doing any photo shoots or interviews alongside Fowler, and that\u2019s the way they both want it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a shift in his demeanour as he transitions from talking about breaking down defences to breaking down his relationship.<\/p>\n

\u2018They said: \u201cOh, nice to meet you, but I just want to let you know, I love your girlfriend more\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary on Mary Fowler\u2019s fame in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnnoying at times\u201d, is how he describes the attention on his romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe footy stuff you just know that\u2019s all part of it, but the private life stuff, that was probably a bit harder to adjust to. But Mary and I both spoke about it, that we didn\u2019t want it to affect the way we live our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of those things are out of your control, so it\u2019s about controlling things that are in our control and not letting it drain our energy and just taking it in our stride. I think both of us are naturally quite private and introverted. We\u2019re also doing our own different things in sport, and we don\u2019t want to become just a big deal – us as a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being back in England, Cleary is reminded by people of a long-standing rumour linking him to the Super League as a means of being closer to Fowler.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/p>\n

Mary Fowler has enjoyed a stellar start to her career.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery three months that article comes out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But in the not-too-distant future, Cleary will have a huge decision to make. He is off contract with the Penrith Panthers at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

That means, by this time next year, he will be preparing to enter NRL free agency. It\u2019s not a certainty that he will extend his stay with the club he led to four-straight premierships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve loved my time in Penrith, and it\u2019s home to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ivan<\/p>\n

Ivan and Nathan Cleary steered Penrith to four consecutive premierships. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite open to things in the future. Maybe having something different, but for the time being, yeah, I can\u2019t really see it happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said it a few times, like I\u2019m open to things, and the last thing I want when I get to the end of my career is to have regrets. So yeah, we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the PNG Chiefs set to enter the NRL in 2028, an almighty challenge could present itself to both Cleary and his father – whose coaching contract with Penrith expires at the same time as his son.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

At the moment, however, that isn\u2019t on his radar despite the opportunity to earn a lucrative tax-free contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not too sure,\u201d he says about the possibility of linking with the Chiefs in the homeland of Fowler\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still such a long way away, and you want to see, you know, I would love to see PNG do well, but to me, it just seems like there\u2019s so much to go before actually getting it off the ground and seeing what it\u2019s going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few people would begrudge Cleary walking away from Penrith in pursuit of another challenge.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s done what no player in 60-odd years has done – leading a team to four titles in a row.<\/p>\n

However, he insists the end of the streak this year hasn\u2019t diluted his passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t ever feel like there\u2019s a destination of \u2018oh you\u2019ve done it\u2019 – you know what I mean?\u201d Cleary says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the streak was probably more [something] that everyone else looked into. Honestly, at times, it didn\u2019t feel like we were on a streak. We were just trying to get the next one and trying to improve. So it wasn\u2019t until we actually lost and had a few discussions with the boys that we were able to look back and be like \u2018wow, we\u2019ve won the last four years, which is pretty crazy to think about\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter where I am, there\u2019s a constant challenge of trying to improve and get better. And I honestly see that each and every day that sort of challenge. Honestly, I don\u2019t know what the future holds for me, but Penrith\u2019s home for me and I still feel like there\u2019s a lot to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re both in the middle of our sporting journeys and enjoying that. When the day comes, I would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-236109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}