There were two responses Nathan Cleary made in the post-match press conference following the Panthers win over the Eels last Sunday night which showed why he will one day go down as the greatest halfback the game has ever seen.
When asked why he played off the bench for the first time in his first grade career, Cleary replied with a cheeky grin.
“Dad said, ‘because of your performance on Wednesday night, you’re starting off the bench’.”
The room erupted with laughter before Ivan added: “Yes, and I was going to make him play hooker too.”
Both men smiled.

However, I bet that Ivan as a father must’ve felt protective of his eldest son, listening to all the scathing criticism that Nathan couldn’t close out an Origin series.
Despite the smiles you could see that Nathan Cleary was still thinking about his performance in game three of Origin.
“I didn’t want to say this to Dad but I woke up still thinking about it this morning,” he admitted.
“I don’t know if you fully get over it, to be honest. But I came to the conclusion that the Origin performance was only going to help me grow as a person and a player.
Playing today gave me the opportunity to test my character and I think that’s the important thing.
“You can only kick stones and feel sorry for yourself for so long.”
Right there, that response speaks volumes to Cleary’s character and why he is the best halfback, if not the best player in the game.
Process it, deal with it and move on. Become an even better version of yourself, become an even better player. Which he will.

The way Cleary also handled the booing from Parramatta fans whenever his face came up on the big screen at the stadium was also all class.
He listened and smiled but booing Nathan Cleary is tantamount to booing Santa Claus.
As Immortal Andrew Johns said on the Channel Nine commentary: “How can you boo Nathan Cleary? World’s nicest bloke!”
But people boo because the player is so good that they want to put him off his game. Rattle him a little in the hope it plays on his mind and affects his performance on the field.
It backfired on Eels supporters big time!
Cleary is too composed for those sort of silly mind games and he showed it by guiding the Panthers to a hard-fought 32-10 victory after only playing a total of 50 minutes of the match.
Now to put this whole ‘dominate at Origin level’ into some perspective, neither Allan Langer or Andrew Johns did it until they were well into their 30s. Even Cooper Cronk was in his late 20s before he ‘dominated’ the Origin arena.

Over the week, plenty of media scribes were questioning whether he should even be picked for Origin next year, while the trolls on social media had a field day.
I’ve never heard so much tripe said or written about a player in my whole life.
Nathan Cleary is not just a nice bloke. He’s also one bloody good rugby league player.
But I’ll let the final word go to his father and coach Ivan Cleary.
“I’m sure it will be easier for him to sleep after this game [beating the Eels] then it was on Wednesday night,” he said.
“He’s [bounced back] so many times over the years and he’ll do it plenty more times.
“I’m just glad he’s playing for us.”
So am I Ivan… so am I.

Peter Lang
Peter Lang is an experienced sports writer, who has been covering rugby league for several decades. He first wrote Lang on League for the Weekender in the 1990s, and worked for Panthers on its famous Panthers Magazine for several years.