{"id":598176,"date":"2026-04-10T16:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598176\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:10:27","slug":"nathan-cleary-distracted-by-bulldogs-star-matt-burton-during-penrith-panthers-nrl-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598176\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary distracted by Bulldogs star Matt Burton during Penrith Panthers NRL loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eagle-eyed footy fans have spotted a cheeky tactic from Bulldogs man Matt Burton during Nathan Cleary\u2019s conversion on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The Panthers began the night by honouring Cleary with a special jersey and ceremonial walkout onto the pitch<\/a> for his 200th game for the club.<\/p>\n

But it proved to be a disappointing evening for the 28-year-old halfback as his side were beaten 32-16 in a shock upset at the Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs raced into a 16-0 lead after just 23 minutes, before the Panthers recovered to level up the scores in the early stages of the second half thanks to a try from Thomas Jenkins.<\/p>\n

Cleary then stepped up to give his side a two-point advantage, but agonisingly struck the post with his kick.<\/p>\n

And some viewers were quick to point to Burton\u2019s actions as the reason why Cleary failed to find the target.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs\u2019 five-eighth could be seen throwing another ball in the air three times during Cleary\u2019s process.<\/p>\n

The last of those came just moments before Cleary connected with the ball and missed the conversion.<\/p>\n

Many have assumed this was a cynical act to distract Cleary \u2014 who had scored his two conversions in the first half.<\/p>\n

Cameron Don-Duncan said: \u201cTechnically illegal. I\u2019ve always thought the conceding team should wait on the half way line personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiegold Gordon added: \u201cI have no doubt Matt Burton knew exactly what he was doing here trying to get in Cleary\u2019s head. It worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt reacted: \u201cDogs fan. I don\u2019t love it. S**t sportsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Close Account replied: \u201cVery poor from Burton, not in the spirit of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burton\u2019s crafty act was not the only surprising story to come out of the Bulldogs\u2019 win over the Panthers.<\/p>\n

\"Brawl<\/p>\n

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was seen making a lewd gesture<\/a> to a Bulldogs fan while he watched the game in the stands.<\/p>\n

It is understood the NRL is aware of the footage but it\u2019s unlikely Cleary will face a sanction over the incident.<\/p>\n

The Panthers are aware of the incident and won\u2019t be making a comment. News.com.au has contacted the NRL for comment.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time Cleary has had a fiery interaction with opposition supporters.<\/p>\n

In 2020, he blew a kiss to a Wests Tigers fan following a Penrith win.<\/p>\n

The Panthers\u2019 defeat to the Bulldogs means the Wests Tigers, Knights, and Rabbitohs can all join them on 10 points at the top of the table with victories this weekend.<\/p>\n

The Wests Tigers and Knights face off against one another in a blockbuster clash on Sunday afternoon, while the Rabbitohs take on the Raiders on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Fans spot Bulldogs\u2019 cheeky act to distract Panthers star Cleary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eagle-eyed footy fans have spotted a cheeky tactic from Bulldogs man Matt Burton during Nathan Cleary\u2019s conversion on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-598176","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\/598176","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=598176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}