{"id":797694,"date":"2026-07-13T14:24:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797694\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:24:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:24:29","slug":"nrl-news-2026-nathan-cleary-on-future-as-speculation-around-penrith-panthers-nsw-blues-champion-swirls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797694\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Nathan Cleary on future as speculation around Penrith Panthers, NSW Blues champion swirls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penrith<\/a> and NSW<\/a> champion Nathan Cleary<\/a> says his desire to succeed in rugby league is stronger than ever, despite talk he could be headed to rugby union now he\u2019s conquered State of Origin.<\/p>\n

Cleary said in February<\/a> he was \u201copen to\u201d a switch to rugby union, which fuelled talk he could move to Europe to take up the 15-man code.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary celebrates scoring one of two tries in this year\u2019s State of Origin decider.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Those whispers have grown louder in the wake of his man-of-the-match performance in the Blues\u2019 30-12 boilover in the Origin decider<\/a> at Suncorp Stadium last Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Many are wondering what could possibly be driving a player who has achieved just about everything that can be achieved in rugby league.<\/p>\n

The reality? Plenty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, that drive is probably growing even more,\u201d Cleary told 9News on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a feeling I have. I feel like I can still get so much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re able to enjoy some success, it\u2019s an addictive feeling and you just want more of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said rugby league is my passion. I\u2019ve loved it for as long as I can remember, so it\u2019s always going to be life for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to last Wednesday night, Cleary had already won four NRL<\/a> premierships, a World Cup and an Ashes series.<\/p>\n

The gun halfback had also claimed two Clive Churchill Medals and three Dally M Halfback of the Year awards.<\/p>\n

He then scored two tries, and generally ran amok, to inspire victory in the Origin decider and do what his critics had insisted he simply had to do.<\/p>\n

Adding to the speculation around Cleary\u2019s future is he could be on his way to free agency.<\/p>\n

Contracted with Penrith until the end of 2027, he will be free to negotiate with rival NRL clubs from November 1 if he doesn\u2019t re-sign before then.<\/p>\n

Quizzed by 9News\u2019 Danny Weidler on Monday, Cleary said he wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d reach free agency or re-sign with Penrith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ll think about over the next couple of weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Joining European rugby would allow Cleary to live far closer to his partner Mary Fowler<\/a>, the Matildas star playing for Manchester City in the Women\u2019s Super League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penrith and NSW champion Nathan Cleary says his desire to succeed in rugby league is stronger than ever,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-797694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797694","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=797694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}