{"id":465380,"date":"2025-08-14T20:16:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465380"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:16:16","slug":"cleary-fumes-at-grant-act-that-robbed-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465380","title":{"rendered":"Cleary fumes at Grant act that robbed Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panthers star Nathan Cleary<\/a> admits it was "frustrating" that Storm captain Harry Grant<\/a> got away with "playing for" a penalty in Thursday night's golden-point thriller.<\/p>\n

I\ufefft was absolute mayhem in the dying stages of the grand final rematch<\/a>, but it looked as though Cleary was going to be the hero with a game-winning field goal.<\/p>\n

However, just as the ball left the Panthers halfback's boot, referee Ashley Klein blew a penalty against teammate Moses Leota for illegally blocking Grant.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Sick of it': Why the Roosters won't stop Leniu approach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why 'pear-shaped' Man United could reignite 'big four' battle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Family friendly': AFL boss defends Snoop Dogg decision<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Replays showed Grant essentially ran at Leota and stuck his arm out to make contact before falling to the ground.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Penrith did get another two chances in the final minute of regulation time, but both of the attempts by Cleary were charged down by desperate Storm defenders. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Speaking post-game to Nine's Danika Mason, the captain admitted his disappointment and confusion over the decision from the match officials.<\/p>\n

"I don't really know what the ruling is in terms of the blocker," Cleary said.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"I'm not sure, they can't all get behind me and I didn't think he went in the way of Harry.<\/p>\n

"I guess that's the interpretation of the rules, so it's a bit of a shame.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Cleary was then asked if he thought Grant showed off his "acting skills" to earn the penalty for Melbourne and gave a blunt response.<\/p>\n

"Yeah, definitely," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Disappointed<\/p>\n

Grant ended up stealing the win for the Storm in extra time<\/a>, catching the defence off-guard and scoring a try under the posts to complete the 22-18 result.<\/p>\n

But it was the critical penalty that Grant gained that was the big talking point.<\/p>\n

When asked post-game for his thoughts, coach Ivan Cleary offered very little insight.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/chadtownsend10\/status\/1955956715704476117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/richieplz\/status\/1955956638579614159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/JarrydHayne\/status\/1955963664902840792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Harry's too smart at both ends – that's pretty much it," he said in the press conference.<\/p>\n

Nathan was then asked about the incident again as his father cheekily urged him to "be honest" and the skipper \ufeffwent into more detail, admitting his frustration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ufeff"If that was in the field of play and you were running a block shape, it wouldn't be an obstruction because they ruled that out," he said.<\/p>\n

"They don't want that in the game, but for some reason it's different for a field goal.<\/p>\n

"I thought the blocking rule was brought in so people would stand next to the play-the-ball, but Moses wasn't in that position.<\/p>\n

"Harry played for it because he knew he was gonna get the penalty, but I don't think Moses moved at all. It was pretty frustrating."<\/p>\n

The subject was brought up during Melbourne's press conference as well and Grant applauded the officials for sticking to their guns in a crucial moment.<\/p>\n

\"Grant<\/p>\n

"Anyone in the game has seen that's been policed numerous times and that's the rules within the game," Grant said.<\/p>\n

"I'm happy if that's the rule, we stick to it. If we want to change it, come out during the week and change it. I think anyone would agree that's been policed numerous times throughout the year, so hats off to the officials for policing it the same way.<\/p>\n

"It would have been easy to change it.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Penrith's heartbreaking loss could see them drop back out of the NRL's top-four should the Warriors defeat the Dragons on Friday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers star Nathan Cleary admits it was "frustrating" that Storm captain Harry Grant got away with "playing for" a penalty in Thursday night's golden-point thriller. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465384,"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\/465380"}],"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=465380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465389,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465380\/revisions\/465389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/465384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}