{"id":545202,"date":"2026-03-17T01:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545202\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:39:17","slug":"family-matters-the-man-behind-casey-mcleans-nrl-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545202\/","title":{"rendered":"Family matters: the man behind Casey McLean’s NRL rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The competitor in Jesse McLean can still find it hard to see his younger brother Casey winning all the opportunities in Penrith’s star-studded backline.<\/p>\n

But as an older brother, Jesse knows it’s down to his mentoring that teenager Casey has become a fixture at the NRL premiership heavyweights.<\/p>\n

Jesse McLean had appeared in the mix for more first-grade action when fellow outside back Stephen Crichton left the Panthers after their third consecutive premiership in 2023.<\/p>\n

Instead, a serious concussion and back-to-back collarbone fractures stymied the older McLean in 2024, with Taylan May and Paul Alamoti preferred in the backline.<\/p>\n

\"Jesse<\/p>\n

Jesse McLean’s 2024 season was hampered by serious concussion and collarbone fractures. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

By 2025, Casey had jumped Jesse in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Still only 19, Casey hasn’t looked back, playing 23 of a possible 27 first-grade games last year and helping the Panthers claw their way off the bottom of the ladder into a preliminary final.<\/p>\n

He most recently ran for 144 metres and threw the last pass for one of four tries in Saturday’s 26-6 defeat of fellow heavyweights Cronulla.<\/p>\n

There are times older brother Jesse finds it hard to be routinely beaten for selection by Casey.<\/p>\n

“As a competitor, I do. It’s like anyone, if someone gets picked over me (it’s hard),” the older McLean told AAP at the launch of the NRL’s Multicultural Round.<\/p>\n

“But I see it as an older brother. (I’m) just happy for him, proud of him.”<\/p>\n

And if not for Jesse, 19-year-old Casey knows he may not have made such a fast start to life as an NRL player.<\/p>\n

“It all started at training – if he’s not there, I’m not as comfortable,” Casey said.<\/p>\n

“Being able to have that familiar face around the whole time, it was a soothing factor, I suppose. I’ve got someone to hang out with, like at school.”<\/p>\n

It’s brother Jesse and father Willie, who played six games for North Sydney in the 1990s, giving Casey honest feedback after tough games.<\/p>\n

“(Jesse) is the one that tells me the truth,” Casey said.<\/p>\n

“He’s kind of the last line of defence. I go to him, my old man. They’re real special to me.”<\/p>\n

\"Casey<\/p>\n

Casey McLean was pivotal in helping the Panthers make it to the 2025 preliminary final. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

As it stands, three-time premiership winner Izack Tago appears next cab off the rank should an injury hit the Panthers backline.<\/p>\n

But with both brothers contracted at Penrith through 2028, Casey is hopeful there’s still time to share the field regularly with Jesse.<\/p>\n

The pair had that chance last season in the notorious round-12 loss to eventual wooden spooners Newcastle, and when Casey was briefly dropped to NSW Cup.<\/p>\n

“It felt like I was playing backyard footy again,” Casey said.<\/p>\n

“Being able to run out alongside my brother on a consistent basis would be really cool.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The competitor in Jesse McLean can still find it hard to see his younger brother Casey winning all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,270017,270018,74186,761,762,158,256682,85,5991],"class_list":["post-545202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brother-casey","tag-brother-jesse","tag-jesse-mclean","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-older-brother","tag-sports","tag-the-panthers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545202","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=545202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}