Nathan Cleary's Penrith teammates in cheeky act amid Mary Fowler romance
Cleary's Panthers teammates aren't missing an opportunity to take a dig at him over his love interest.
Another Panthers player has taken a cheeky dig at Nathan Cleary as the spotlight continues to shine on his budding romance with Matildas star Mary Fowler. Australia's sporting glamour couple has been the talk of the town for months and Cleary's teammates continue to stoke the fire.
It all began when Jarome Luai spoke about the pair on the Kyle and Jackie O Show in September, when they were attempting to keep their relationship low-key. When asked what Panthers player would be most likely to date a Matildas player, Luai responded: "Nathan Cleary, shhh".
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When quizzed on whether the Panthers had discussed the romance between their star halfback and the Matildas forward, Luai responded "Definitely". "He was a bit shy about it, that’s all. I’ve been trying to get some information out of him," Luai said. "I wanna see my bro happy, he’s on the lookout for some love. We’ll see how they go."
Now, Brian To'o has fanned the flames by commenting on Cleary's social media as he shares his tour of the US in the NRL off-season. In a series of photos, Cleary shows off how he has attended a wedding, the races, the UFC and taken a helicopter tour of New York, in two posts titled, 'Offseason part 1' and 'Part 2'.
On the first post, To'o was one of the first to comment, chipping in with 'My guy' and the soccer ball and love heart eyes emojis in a cheeky reference to his budding romance with Fowler. On the second post he once again commented 'My guy' but this time coupled with a soccer ball and diamond ring emoji, suggesting he may be ready to take the next step with the Matildas superstar.
Social media users thought the Fowler references were hilarious but unlikely to go down well with Cleary, commenting, "Haha stirring the pot" and "Nathan will get you when he gets home". The Panthers halfback has made it known that the Fowler talk is annoying as he wants to keep things private.
When speaking on the rumours following the pair being spotted enjoying a romantic moment in July, Cleary said: "It is what is, it’s a little bit annoying to not have a private life but I like to not talk about it too much and keep anything I can private. Things take off pretty quick with social media but I’ll try to keep a private life if I can."
The couple being loved-up was all but confirmed in November, when Cleary flew to Perth to watch Fowler play for the Matildas and they were snapped together loved-up in a park, cuddling while they shared a chat and had a laugh.
Mackenzie Arnold's funny rejection of Nathan Cleary
Mackenzie Arnold recently took a light-hearted swipe at Cleary amid his romance with Fowler. In an interview on 2DAY FM’s 'Hughesy, Ed & Erin' breakfast show, the Matildas keeper opened up on how life has changed since their historic run to the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup.
Arnold revealed that seeing NRL star Cleary watching from the stands during a recent Olympic qualifier was a prime example of how far they've come largely thanks to their fourth-place finish at the Women's World Cup. The Penrith Panthers hero recently started dating Matildas striker Fowler and was in attendance in Perth as she took on Chinese Taipei.
"I think it was definitely seeing Nathan Cleary in the crowd that was crazy for us," she said. Although the Broncos fan put her foot down at letting Cleary on the field after the game after he led the Panthers to a stunning comeback win over Brisbane in the NRL grand final. "I was still salty from the grand final," she laughed. "I wasn’t happy about it and let Mary know he couldn’t come on the field.”
Cleary scored the winning try and laid on two others as the Panthers produced the biggest comeback in NRL grand final history to break the Broncos' hearts. Brisbane were leading 24-8 with 20 minutes remaining before Cleary unleashed his incredible burst to lead Penrith to a third-straight premiership.
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