{"id":335470,"date":"2023-10-01T21:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T21:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=335470"},"modified":"2023-10-01T23:01:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T23:01:44","slug":"thurston-in-awe-of-unfathomable-cleary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=335470","title":{"rendered":"Thurston 'in awe' of 'unfathomable' Cleary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johnathan Thurston<\/a> and Andrew Johns<\/a> are widely considered the two best halfbacks to ever play rugby league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But even they are "in awe" of Penrith<\/a> pivot Nathan Cleary<\/a>, who lifted the Panthers to a third successive premiership on Sunday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cleary manufactured a record comeback after three Ezra Mam tries quickly put the Broncos 16 points up in a frantic second half at Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n

PLAYER RATINGS:<\/strong> Origin star's 'stage fright' as young gun almost steals show<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Cleary snatches grand final for Panthers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Groggy Cleary gives hilarious live TV interview at 6am\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffThe classy No.7 ended up scoring the decisive try in the 76th minute, stepping off his left foot to beat the Brisbane defence and dart over the line.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

Running the sideline for Nine at that moment, Thurston had his hands on his head in disbelief.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThis is a true champion of our game," Thurston said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffAt 25 years of age, it's unfathomable what he's going to do throughout his career.<\/p>\n

"He hasn't even\ufeff hit his peak yet, most halfbacks get to their peak at about 28, 29, 30 – this kid's 25, and what he's done is unbelievable.<\/p>\n

"I'm in awe."<\/p>\n

\"Cleary<\/p>\n

Thurston's raw reaction was replayed following the game, highlighting how freakish the Cleary performance was.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I love footy, I ride the highs, I ride the lows," Thurston said.<\/p>\n

"I was just mind-blown. I couldn't believe what I was watching\ufeff, it just goes to show what a champion halfback he is.<\/p>\n

"He's only just beginning his career\ufeff and he's achieved so much already."<\/p>\n

Thurston won two grand finals, four Dally M Medals and three Golden Boot awards during what is considered one of the best careers ever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Newcastle legend Johns – an Immortal and arguably the greatest playmaker in history – won two titles with the Knights and collected three Dally M Medals, as well as two Golden Boots.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Cleary, at 25 years old, already has three premiership rings and two Clive Churchill Medals for his grand final heroics.<\/p>\n

Johns has previously stated his belief Cleary will finish his career as the best halfback to play the game.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo has no hesitations about labelling Cleary the best halfback ever.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhat he's done in this space of time, no other halfback has done it," Yeo said of Cleary after Sunday's win.<\/p>\n

"No one has done what he's done. That 20-minute period he put the team on his back and won us our third grand final in a row."<\/p>\n

Even Cleary's father and coach, Ivan, was in awe of what his son did in the final 20 minutes of the grand final to lift Penrith to victory.<\/p>\n

\"Cleary's<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI did see his face on the big screen after a try when he was coming back for a kick-off, and I did think to myself he looked really clear," Ivan said.<\/p>\n

"If you look at, say, the 2020 grand final, he wasn't\ufeff. I didn't think what was going to happen after that."<\/p>\n

Cleary credited lessons learned from the 2020 grand final – his first, which the Panthers lost to Melbourne – for helping him orchestrate Sunday's win.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johnathan Thurston and Andrew Johns are widely considered the two best halfbacks to ever play rugby league. But even they are "in awe" of Penrith […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335477,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335470\/revisions\/335477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/335472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}