{"id":431853,"date":"2026-05-17T10:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431853\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T10:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:20:10","slug":"nathan-cleary-provides-update-on-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431853\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary provides update on future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penrith Panthers<\/a> star halfback Nathan Cleary<\/a> has admitted Peter Wallace<\/a> taking over at the foot of the mountains could actually help him stay at the club, although he won’t be making a decision any time soon.<\/p>\n

Cleary has never been off-contract before in his career, but has admitted multiple times this year that the November 1 free agency deadline could be something he is willing to check out.<\/p>\n

That now makes a lot more sense with his father Ivan confirming he will step away from head coaching at the Panthers at the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

Cleary junior, who has won four premierships at the foot of the mountains, could be worth over $1.5 million on the open market in the NRL<\/a>, and may also field offers from the Super League<\/a> or European rugby union.<\/p>\n

Speaking to AAP on Saturday evening at Brisbane airport though, he admitted Peter Wallace<\/a> is the kind of coach he would want to play under, although admitted a decision on his future won’t be made anytime soon with the busy State of Origin<\/a> period about to kick-off and the Panthers well on track to make yet another deep run into September, having played in five of the last six grand finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not something I’ve thought about too much, but potentially [Peter Wallace<\/a> as coach could help me want to stay],\u201d Cleary told AAP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWal is the kind of guy anyone would like to play for. He was someone I loved playing alongside \u2026 It’s obviously a pressing thing, which I understand, but it’s definitely a decision I won’t take lightly, and it won’t happen any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky enough to play alongside Wal, he was someone I looked up to, and the way he played the game, the toughness, I have the utmost respect for him. I’m really happy for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it doesn’t change my position. I’m still not ready to make that decision yet, and that won’t change over the next six to eight week period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary, who famously attempted to cut his wage halfway through his last deal in a bid to keep the Panthers playing group together at the foot of the moutains, earns north of seven figures, but the idea of linking up with Jarome Luai<\/a> at the PNG Chiefs<\/a>, or trying his hand elsewhere in the NRL<\/a> may appeal.<\/p>\n

Overseas will also be an option given his partner Mary Fowler lives in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The Panthers clash with the St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a> on Sunday evening in the final game of magic round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penrith Panthers star halfback Nathan Cleary has admitted Peter Wallace taking over at the foot of the mountains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-431853","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\/431853","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=431853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}