Nathan Cleary may have produced the greatest 20 minutes in NRL history to lead Penrith to a remarkable grand final victory in 2023, but the champion halfback still credits the \u201cunderrated\u201d contribution of Jack Cogger off the bench as the man who helped spark the comeback.<\/p>\n
The win over Brisbane was Cogger\u2019s last game in a Penrith jersey before he made the move to Newcastle, but he\u2019s back in western Sydney after signing a three-year deal to help the Panthers win back the trophy off the Broncos. <\/p>\n
Former halves partner Jarome Luai was always dubbed the Robin to Cleary\u2019s Batman, but it was Cogger who produced the heroics on grand final night when Luai was forced off with a shoulder injury with 29 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
He watched on as Broncos star Ezra Mam threatened to steal the show, with Cogger then playing a key hand at first receiver for Penrith\u2019s next two tries as Cleary set up Moses Leota and Stephen Crichton.<\/p>\n
Cleary ultimately scored the winner and claimed his second Clive Churchill Medal, but the champion halfback credits Cogger for freeing him up to take over the contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Penrith fans understand how important he was, but I still think his role is so underrated because he was able to create so much space for me and for everyone around us,\u201d Cleary told the NewsWire.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also brought a different calm energy onto the field when everything was a bit hectic and it felt like everything was going wrong. He came on and was really positive and clicked me into gear to think the right things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s naturally a quiet guy, but he\u2019s a leader and he showed it that night on the biggest stage. He\u2019s still the great man and I\u2019m really pleased to have him back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both see the game really similarly, so we can bounce ideas off each other. We\u2019re also the same age. We\u2019ve had a bit of a different experience throughout our first-grade careers, but we both understand the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cogger says he was simply doing his job and that he had the best seat in the house as Cleary took over, but he\u2019s had to watch from afar for the past two years.<\/p>\n
After stints with Newcastle and the Bulldogs before his lone season with Penrith, Cogger returned to the Hunter in 2024 where he was expected to provide much-needed stability in the halves.<\/p>\n
But he wasn\u2019t immune from the constant chopping and changing in the spine, with Cogger eventually released with a year to run on his deal. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think at the time when I left (Penrith) there were a lot of circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided midway through the year that I was going back to Newcastle after only playing two or three games in the NRL, but then I ended up playing the rest of the season and won the comp.<\/p>\n
\u201cStatistics show that when you leave a club, you generally don\u2019t return. But I left on really good terms so that\u2019s what made it easy for them to take me back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an up and down couple of seasons at Newcastle. I learnt a lot \u2013 some good, some bad \u2013 but you take everything you can on board that\u2019s going to make me a better player.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I think I am compared to the guy who arrived here at the start of 2023, and that really excites me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first stint in Penrith has him well placed to slot back into the system, with Cogger looking to follow in the footsteps of Tom Jenkins, who left the club for Newcastle and then returned in 2025 to score 13 tries. <\/p>\n
A starting spot seems unlikely with Blaize Talagi in the halves, but Cogger is tipped to earn a place on the bench as he bides his time for another opportunity. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have to be ready around Origin time when I\u2019m pretty certain that Nathan will be away in that Blues squad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be ready to step in and make sure that the team keeps ticking away exactly the same as when he\u2019s here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, I can play a bit of a role as a utility. I don\u2019t know exactly how that\u2019ll look, but hopefully I can offer something a bit different that can benefit the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that means coming on late in games or at the end of the first half, I definitely think I can offer something there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary may have produced the greatest 20 minutes in NRL history to lead Penrith to a remarkable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,13149,47999,4593,7992,1203,761,762,158,5357,33509,85],"class_list":["post-451638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-contracts","tag-grand-finals","tag-jack-cogger","tag-knights","tag-nathan-cleary","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-panthers","tag-returns","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451638","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=451638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}