Cleary turns Origin heartbreak into Panthers win

Jasper Bruce | July 13, 2025

Nathan Cleary admits he may never get over NSW’s loss in the State of Origin decider but hopes Penrith’s 32-10 defeat of Parramatta is the first of many wins that the heartbreak inspires.

Star halfback Cleary was devastated and under fire after Wednesday’s game three defeat and woke up the morning of Sunday’s match at CommBank Stadium with the result still playing on his mind.

“I don’t know if you ever fully get over it,” said Cleary, adding a long chat with his father and club coach Ivan Cleary on Saturday had “made me feel a lot better”.

“In the past I’ve probably after a poor Origin performance, just tried to squash it and act like it didn’t happen,” he said.

“This time I saw it as an opportunity to analyse it a bit more and try and delve deeper into why I didn’t perform the way I wanted.”

Cleary played like a man unburdened when he came on from the bench in Parramatta, first triggering the shift that gave the Panthers an unlikely lead through Luke Garner after the half-time siren.

He forced a dropout which helped put Izack Tago over after the break, then sealed the result with a show-and-go to burst past Joash Papalii and Sean Russell for a try in the final 10 minutes.

“I came to the conclusion that it (the Origin loss) is only going to help me grow as a person and a player. Playing today gave me a good opportunity to test my character too,” Cleary said.

“That’s an important thing. It’s about how you move on and how you present to the team. You can only kick stones and feel sorry for yourself for so long.”

Cleary earned an early mark and watched as Lindsay Smith barged over for the Panthers’ last try, which capped a stellar end to an Origin period that began woefully for Penrith.

The Panthers’ loss to struggling Newcastle in round 12 pushed them to last on the ladder and signalled the low point of their season.

But they haven’t lost since and emerge from the Origin period on course for a top-eight finish, having knocked off the Warriors and Eels without some of their biggest stars.

A top-four berth remains on the cards for the resurgent Panthers, who won’t face a team currently in the top-eight until mid-August.

It’s a far cry from the four-time reigning premiers’ 1-5 start that sent shockwaves through the competition.

“We lost five in a row and we just won five in a row so it’s taken a long time to get the ledger back,” said coach Cleary.

“We’ll finish where we deserve. We’re still trying to build, we need to play better than what we did today. We did enough.”

Parramatta had a glimpse into their future, giving Papalii a chance at the starting five-eighth role he could land when Dylan Brown joins Newcastle next year.

The recently re-signed Papalii had some good moments, but he and club debutant Tallyn Da Silva came up short of answers as the Eels chased points in the second half.

Brown, shifted to starting hooker, inexplicably remained on the bench as the side cried out for attacking composure and only re-entered with the game out of reach in the final six minutes.

Tago could face scrutiny from the match review committee for a hip-drop style tackle that injured Kitione Kautoga’s left ankle but went undetected by referee Peter Gough.

Coach Jason Ryles saw positives in a competitive first half for the rebuilding Eels.

“The try before half-time didn’t give the (12-10) scoreline the reflection of what the half actually was for us,” said Ryles.

“We had some really good things there and we want to keep building on that.”