Nathan Cleary’s champion qualities remind me of a Newcastle halfback that I used to coach but the guy wearing the No.7 jersey in Sunday night’s grand final is a chance of reaching a very rare milestone on Sunday.
Cleary is often compared to Andrew Johns and as someone who had the luxury of working alongside at the Knights when he was at the peak of his powers, I can definitely see a few similar traits in Penrith’s playmaker.
Jahrome Hughes has had a great season for Melbourne and totally deserves his Dally M Medal for the superb way he has been playing all year.
It will be a game of two halves.
Cleary is like Joey because of his composure on the field in the critical moments.
He has that ability to make the right play pretty much every time. There was an example last Saturday night against Cronulla when the Panthers got themselves a line break near the posts and Nathan had the presence of mind to sum up the situation perfectly.
With the defence scrambling, he set himself about 15 metres wide of the ruck on the left edge, called for the ball and then fired a long pass for his side to score in the corner.
Joey had that too – the nous to execute the right play at the right time.
Then he’s got the other traits that Andrew Johns had – his toughness, kicking game and outstanding defence.
Cleary came up with a 40/20 last week just when his team needed it. The awareness of knowing when the pressure is on and a big play can turn the momentum, it’s priceless.
He’s played a bunch of Origins and four grand finals and Test footy, he’s 26 and he’s at that point in his career where he knows exactly what it takes to control a game. Hughes is 30 and he has only been a full-time half for about five or six years now but he’s also in that zone where he seems to have more time, space and vision.
The Panthers won’t have it all their own way in the decider – the way Melbourne have been playing makes this game almost in that category of being too close to call.
I’ve been looking at the stats, how they’ve played in their last few games and how they will line up and they’re very, very evenly matched across back five, halves and key players. Both teams are fit and healthy, so there’s not too many chinks in the armour that I can see in either team.
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Melbourne’s form in their last three or four games has been fantastic. Their spine and their halves in particular, with their ability to keep challenging the line and running the football will test Penrith.
They’re not coming up with too much in the way of finesse or structure, but they’re playing flat, they’re playing fast and they’re not giving opposition teams a chance to get set.
Harry Grant, Cameron Munster, Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen – their contribution to the way that they’re playing with the football, it’s going to take a monumental defensive effort by the Panthers to contain those four blokes for 80 minutes.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona getting suspended will hurt their go-forward, play the ball speed and 2nd phase. Melbourne have got very good physicality, strong intent and got hard workers but that one not so little x-factor in Nelson will be missing.
Their whole pack need to match Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota and Isaah Yeo because they are three of the key ingredients for Penrith.
He doesn’t get the attention that he deserves but Yeo had 25 carries and over 200 metres in the game against the Roosters a fortnight ago. It’s not just his footwork but he can find a pass and you could notice it when Cleary came back into that team for the first time a fortnight ago, they complement each other so well.
The match-ups of the elite players on both teams, they couldn’t be in better form coming into the biggest game of the year.
Since the grand final four years ago when Melbourne got the jump on them, Penrith have developed that defensive, strangling mindset that the Storm had for such a long time.
It’s a credit to Craig Bellamy that he’s been able to rebuild his side with a lot of new names like Trent Loiero, Jack Howarth, Will Warbrick, Nick Meaney, Josh King, Shawn Blore, Eliesa Katoa, Tyran Wishart and on it goes from the team that won in 2020.
Warbrick and Xavier Coates with their height and leaping ability could have an advantage on the wings against Turuva and Brian To’o so if they can get a good share of field position, then the execution of their kicking game could be crucial.
Jahrome Hughes (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Melbourne have been getting through 85% of their sets. They’re playing with a lot of resilience and patience so I think they have got the right balance to get under the Panthers’ skin.
I think the underlying emotional connection around Penrith with James Fisher-Harris, Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva moving on from their team and what Ivan Cleary has developed in the last three years, I think that’s going to have a role to play in the dictating of the winning and losing.
They’ve got a lot to play for to create history with four premierships in a row and five grand finals. It is quite a phenomenal achievement for their football club so that’s in favour of Penrith.
I heard that from Dylan Edwards talking about how they spend a lot of time together away from footy.
They like each other. They’re inseparable, the mateship and the camaraderie they have is exceptional.
Knights Immortal Andrew Johns. (Getty Images)
Penrith are like the champion Parramatta sides of the 1980s that a lot of them came through the juniors together and developed into elite players.
Melbourne have followed more of the Canterbury model where they have brought in a lot of players at a young age with good recruitment and kept them together.
Penrith have basically seen off the Rabbitohs, Parramatta and Brisbane in the past three years and those teams have fallen away significantly since then.
Their ability to continue that motivation and standard, week to week and year to year, is amazing.
I think Penrith’s emotional connection and a parochial crowd that gets them home on Sunday night in a close one. If it was in Melbourne I’d be taking the Storm, it’s that close.