Nathan Cleary has opened up on his future on the field, declaring there is a reason why winning his fourth straight NRL premiership has not dulled his motivations.
But he also has his mind set on family life beyond footy after sharing his dream of becoming a parent with his Matildas superstar partner Mary Fowler.
The 27-year-old is on the comeback trail from off-season shoulder surgery and facing a huge challenge to keep Penrith on top in 2025 following the departure of running mates Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva.
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“It’s a question that often gets asked, about motivation,” Cleary said on ex-NRL player Keegan Hipgrave’s podcast.
“The way I think of it is I’m not really a person who will sit down and have yearly goals. I know what I want but it comes from little improvements each day and trying to find the joy in that.
“I remember goal-setting when I was younger. All I want to do is play NRL, and then you get to NRL, it’s like alright, what’s next? Then it’s alright, if I win a competition I could happily retire.
“But then you win a competition, it’s alright, well, this is pretty addictive, I want to win another one.”
Cleary said his career turned in 2019-20 when he began caring less about external opinions, realising he was worried within games that he would be criticised for mistakes.
His father and coach Ivan proved crucial to that turnaround.
“I think in a way it’s almost disrespectful to the people in your corner if you’re so worried about what other people are thinking and not taking their opinions on board,” Cleary said.
“I’ve had such a great group around me, particularly family, teammates, coaches all the way through, and I was almost neglecting that for these random people who wanted to have a shot at me.”
Fowler has since become an important sounding board on the occasions the sporting stars do want to discuss their on-field pursuits.
“She definitely understands,” Cleary said.
“People look at us and think we’re talking about our sport all the time but sometimes it’s just nice to sit there as two human beings and enjoy other’s company and talk about something other than sport.
“When we’re together we just enjoy each other’s company but it’s that support and trust that if something is going wrong we can talk to each other about it and bounce ideas off each other. It’s been really nice.”
The discussion around Cleary’s relationship with Fowler inevitably took over the podcast, with Hipgrave keen to explore that side of the Panthers star’s life.
“Constant communication is what works for us, we make a real emphasis on that,” Cleary said.
“And compromise as well. You’re not always going to love the same things. It’s compromising.
“The thing that I’ve noticed about having a partner is I just want to make her happy and I want her to feel safe and feel like I’m there for her so anything she wants to do, I’ll be like ‘yeah I’ll do that because it’s going to make you happy’.”
Cleary said he walked on egg shells early when he was unsure if he could joke with Fowler as he does with family and friends.
But more than a year on, they are serious enough that he was willing to share his hopes to one day have children with her.
Hipgrave bounced off Cleary saying he “would love” to have kids in the future to ask if he and Fowler were thinking about it soon.
“It’s obviously tough that we are both pretty stuck into our sport,” Cleary said.
“I definitely want to in the future. I’d love for it to be with Mary, I just think she’d be the best mother but yeah we’ll see.
“It’s not a rush at the moment but definitely in the future. I see that post-footy, I would love to have a little family of my own.”
While Cleary has achieved it all in his sport, Fowler is just 21 and still coming into her own as a Manchester City star and Matildas leader.
Cleary had earlier spoken of the strong relationships he has with his parents and three siblings.
“I’m really lucky with my family. We’ve got such a great close-knit family,” he said.
“My parents are still together and they’ve just taught us what caring and love is about. I’ve got three siblings, we’re always super close.”
