{"id":499354,"date":"2026-02-23T18:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499354\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:46:21","slug":"nathan-cleary-free-to-play-round-1-after-nrl-judiciary-takes-just-12-minutes-to-downgrade-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499354\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary free to play Round 1 after NRL judiciary takes just 12 minutes to downgrade charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan Cleary\u2019s judiciary gamble has paid off, with the Penrith halfback cleared of suspension and given the green light to line up in the Panthers\u2019 NRL<\/a> season opener.<\/p>\n

The father-son combination was a success for Penrith once more on Monday, with Panthers coach Ivan Cleary \u2014 rather than a lawyer \u2014 successfully arguing for Nathan to have the charge against him downgraded at the NRL judiciary.<\/p>\n

The Panthers No.7 had been hit with a grade-two careless high tackle charge for a shot on Wests Tigers winger Heamasi Makasini.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleary rushed out of the line and made the hit as the Tigers rookie juggled the ball in Friday\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

The halfback was expected to miss Penrith\u2019s two opening games against Brisbane and Cronulla by taking the early guilty plea.<\/p>\n

Cleary instead risked spending a further match on the sidelines by fighting the charge.<\/p>\n

But after winning four-straight premierships together, the Clearys can add judiciary downgrades to their resumes after the panel of Ryan James and Greg McCullum agreed to reduce the charge after just 12 minutes of deliberation.<\/p>\n

Cleary Jr told the panel he had rushed towards Makasini but argued the contact was shoulder to shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I stand back and he gets momentum and I risk becoming a speedbump,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

The NRL\u2019s legal counsel Lachlan Gyles opted against cross-examining the halfback, but said Cleary had increased the risk in his tackle by approaching Makasini at speed.<\/p>\n

Cleary Sr calmly argued his son had looked to create force but had shown a duty of care by planting his feet in anticipation of the collision and making shoulder to shoulder contact.<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary escaped with a fine and will be now free to line up against the Broncos in round one.<\/p>\n

His inclusion is a massive boost for Penrith, who started 2025 slowly and sat bottom after 12 rounds before making the top eight.<\/p>\n

The Panthers lost a preliminary final against eventual premiers Brisbane, ending their run of four-straight premierships.<\/p>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

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2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary\u2019s judiciary gamble has paid off, with the Penrith halfback cleared of suspension and given the green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,1625,761,762,158,4598,3863,588,85],"class_list":["post-499354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-lifestyle","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499354","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=499354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}