Nathan Cleary’s 14 magical minutes secure Panthers’ place in NRL history

Staring at a 24-8 deficit, with less than 20 minutes to go, the honour of being simply the best slipping away. Unbelievable, but apparently inevitable. Penrith – perhaps the greatest rugby league team ever – were going to lose the 2023 NRL grand final.

Sixty-two minutes of football on this sweltering evening had left the favourites in an almost un-winnable position. The scintillating Broncos attack had cut the much-vaunted Penrith defence apart. Stephen Crichton, Spencer Leniu playing their final matches. Talk of a three-peat forgotten. The end of an era was no longer threatening, nor beckoning. It seemed it had already arrived.

But a legend exists in western Sydney. It is known as Nathan Cleary, son of coach Ivan. The most influential player in the game. Rugby league’s human metronome. Until that point, on this first day of October in the year of 2023, he remained but a myth. Whispered by some. Longed for by more. But present at Accor Stadium, he had not been.

A stuttering first half passed by with barely the No 7’s fingerprint. The Panthers’ stuttering attack lifeless. Their only source of points? Strangely from Adam Reynolds’ dropouts. Cleary even missed his chance at a conversion, a trainer taking a long look at his knee. It was a tempting explanation for the captain’s lack of impact.

After half-time, his fate tumbled further. Twice Cleary was eviscerated as the Broncos galloped away with the game. On 52 minutes, Ezra Mam sped past his leaping attempt to push the lead to 10. Then Reece Walsh’s left-foot step left him feeble and prone on the turf, and Mam was in again.

By this stage it was 24-8. Cleary himself described the period as “awful” after the match. The fact that it was him – the great Nathan Cleary – who was at fault for the two game-breaking tries made the Broncos’ procession somehow apt. The revolution had arrived and it had come for the king.

Nathan Cleary and his Panthers teammates. Photograph: Mark Evans/AAP

The clock read 62 minutes and 44 seconds. It was at this very moment, Cleary awoke from his slumber. Roving on the right, gliding past Kurt Capewell, an inside ball to Moses Leota to cut the lead to 10. Again it was Cleary, diving deep into the Brisbane line and finding Crichton who took three defenders over the tryline. 11 minutes to go, the lead now just four.

Two minutes later, a 40-20 that forced the Broncos back onto their line. Another Reynolds dropout, Cleary extended a leg to trigger a penalty. More pressure, more Brisbane fatigue. A miraculous Cleary bat on, but still without points. The No 7 testing and prodding, transfixing the rugby league world.

Then with three minutes and 25 seconds to go, finally the ascension. Loitering on the left, a tired Broncos line sliding to its right, Cleary, inside past Reynolds – the Broncos’ own leader. Then past Billy Walters, the coach’s son. Past Jordan Riki, who represents the work ethic of the Broncos’ revival. Then through the outstretched arm of Walsh, their human exclamation point. In half a dozen steps Cleary had destroyed everything the Broncos stood for. Like some higher being. Merciless, instant.

Cleary touches down to win it for the Panthers. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

On the day rugby league celebrated the life of Tina Turner, this was an otherworldly performance. Coming into the game, Cleary had been a legend. But those 14 minutes made him something more.

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He is still mortal, we think. But even he’s not sure where his world ends and the other begins. “Honestly it doesn’t feel real right now,” he said afterwards. “I can’t wait for it to set in.” If this performance was anything to go by, it may never.

And so, on the hottest ever grand final day, the heavens provided a test. And through this, a new Nathan Cleary was forged. Securing his place, and the Panthers, among the greats. Perhaps, the greatest.

Much has been made of the Penrith’s achievement to equal the Eels’ record of three straight premierships set in the early 1980s. In truth, the money, talent and professionalism in the modern game suggests this Penrith side has a worthy claim to the best team the game has ever seen.

That crown would not have been worn by a team that lost to the Broncos on Sunday night. There lies Cleary’s contribution – he took a great team, and made them the greatest. He elevated these Panthers to something rugby league has never seen.

And from the world of the gods, back down onto the football fields below. For Cleary, back-to-back-to-back is not enough. Seemingly omnipotent, ominous, he said in receiving the Clive Churchill: “We’re still just getting started.”