Nathan Cleary has declared that whether he has truly "owned" the State of Origin arena is a matter of opinion, after overcoming personal selection doubts to earn his spot in the NSW side once again. Following last year's game-three decider, even the NRL's best player questioned his place in Laurie Daley's plans for the 2026 series opener.
For the third time in his career, Cleary was the halfback tasked with leading the Blues in a series-deciding match in 2025. And for the third time, the Penrith co-captain fell short. Despite boasting three series wins and two player-of-the-match awards from 17 appearances for NSW, his record in deciders has sparked persistent media chatter about his inability to dominate the Origin stage the way he has the NRL since Penrith's rise in 2020.
"At the end of the day, owning Origin is subjective to anyone that wants to comment on it," Cleary said. "It's probably not something I think about too much, to be honest. I just want to be the best teammate I can and play up to the standards that I set for myself. In my mind, they're the sorts of things I value."
Cleary cut a dejected figure in the Blues' sheds after last year's game three, consoled by his mother Bec and father Ivan, his coach at the Panthers. In the days that followed, the four-time premiership winner found himself pondering whether selectors might lose patience with him for 2026.
"They're probably thoughts that come into your head a bit," he admitted. "(But) there's so much time in between, so much can happen. At the end of the day, it's just a waste of energy thinking about that." Cleary resolved to embrace the disappointment of 2025 to move on more quickly. "It was disappointing but I thought compared to past years, I sort of tried to understand what happened a bit quicker. With the fact that you go back to clubland, you can sort of sweep it under the rug quite easily but I sort of sat on it for a few days. It gave me peace of mind to move on from it, grow from it, learn from it."
Cleary's focus is now on building chemistry with halves partner Mitch Moses and the rest of his teammates for the 2026 series. Centre Stephen Crichton participated in the Blues' first full-contact session of their game-one camp on Thursday after missing the previous day's training to rest his troublesome shoulder. "He was sweet. It's good to have everyone fully fit and in and amongst training. He looked good out there today," Cleary said.
Cleary said he had not yet turned his mind to the prospect of his father Ivan coaching the Blues in the future. The four-time premiership-winning elder Cleary will step down as Panthers coach after next season, but has publicly voiced his representative coaching aspirations. Blues coach Daley is contracted until the end of this series. "I haven't thought about it. It's this series that I'm focused on," said the halfback. "I've got Laurie as a coach and I've thoroughly enjoyed working alongside him."
