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\n Casey McLean in action for NSW U19s in 2024.
\n \u00a9Gregg Porteous\/NRL Photos
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Penrith centre Casey McLean admits he was tempted to play State of Origin with the NSW Blues but the tug to honour his New Zealand heritage was stronger.<\/p>\n
The change in eligibility rules announced by the NRL in February, means the door for McLean has re-opened and he\u2019s allowing himself to dream of what pulling on a Sky Blues jersey might feel like.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the phone call arose I wouldn\u2019t turn it down but I\u2019m focusing on my job at Penrith and taking it week by week and not thinking too far ahead,\u201d he said following the Panthers\u2019 overwhelming 50-10 win against four-time premiership winners Melbourne Storm on Good Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thought had crossed my mind (turning down Origin initially) that I can\u2019t represent the junior clubs in Penrith. But at the end of the day the decision wasn\u2019t too hard because I wanted to represent my family and where I came from.<\/p>\n
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Casey McLean scores four tries on Kiwis debut<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to put on the black jersey and represent where my parents come from as a way of giving back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his red-hot form over five rounds of 2026, McLean said he was so far yet to hear from NSW coach Laurie Daley or anyone else senior in the Blues coaching ranks – not even for a \u2018touching base\u2019 kind of conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t had that phone call\u2026 representing New Zealand is my first option,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d hope (I\u2019d be ready to go) if that phone call came but it just comes down what\u2019s right for the Blues. I guess if the opportunity came I would take it with both hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean can play either left or right centre, and with the shoulder injury to Bulldogs skipper and incumbent NSW centre Stephen Crichton, the calls will get louder to promote him.<\/p>\n
He partnered brother Jesse in the centres for the winning NSW Under 19s side in 2024.<\/p>\n
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\n Casey McLean in action for NSW U19s in 2024.
\n \u00a9Gregg Porteous\/NRL Photos
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\u201cCoach (Ivan Cleary) is really big on not limiting yourself, or being one-dimensional, and learning to attack and defend on both sides \u2013 it\u2019s kind of a good skill to have,” McLean said.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is in the \u2018McLean to Blues\u2019 camp. His Penrith co-captain and reigning NSW halfback Nathan Cleary feels the calls are premature.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s still a long way away, but what Casey is doing at the moment is quite incredible. He\u2019s looking more and more dangerous each week and he\u2019s starting to feel that confidence,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact he\u2019s 19 is mind-blowing.\u201d McLean will turn 20 later this month (April 24).<\/p>\n
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Casey McLean Try<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a testament to the work he\u2019s putting in,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cHe comes to training each week trying to get better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe combination they\u2019ve got on that left edge with Blaize (Talagi, five-eighth), Isaiah (Papali\u2019i, second rower), Casey and Milk (winger Tom Jenkins) is very fun to be a part of \u2013 the sky is the limit for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Penrith left edge is completely different from the foursome that won the 2024 NRL premiership just 18 months ago \u2013 five-eighth Jarome Luai, back rower Scott Sorensen, centre Paul Alamoti, and winger Sunia Turuva.<\/p>\n
Ivan Cleary said after last Friday\u2019s huge win that Talagi, McLean and Jenkins weren\u2019t firing as much as the Panthers coaching staff had hoped in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a time there last year where we were not winning games\u2026 and I remember thinking, \u2018it\u2019s probably asking a lot for these guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we decided that even while we were losing, we would keep them in and try to ride them through it. I added Isaiah out there this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jenkins keeps rolling<\/p>\n
The left edge foursome has now scored 17 tries in five games, courtesy of Jenkins\u2019 record haul of 12 \u2013 the first NRL player to score that many over the opening five rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think last year was a really good learning for them, especially when we went well at the end of the year\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came through that and now they\u2019re connecting well, and it should be noted their defending well too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penrith centre Casey McLean admits he was tempted to play State of Origin with the NSW Blues but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-366022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}