NATHAN Cleary admits life in England appeals to him – and not just because footballer girlfriend Mary Fowler is here with Manchester City.
Just being Nathan, not Nathan the rugby league superstar, suits him down to the ground.
Such was his anonymity ahead of Penrith’s sell out date at Wigan for Saturday’s World Club Challenge, he was able to walk around and go shopping unbothered.
Little did shop assistants and coffee drinkers in Manchester know they had a sporting superstar in their midst – had that been Down Under, the queue of people wanting a photograph would have stretched around the block.
And Cleary is in no doubt which he prefers.
“Doing that’s a change from back home but I really enjoy it,” half back he said. “Being able to wander around and not get recognised, just living a normal life really.
“That’s one of my favourite things about coming over here.
“Being out in Penrith, rather than Sydney itself, does help a bit. It can get hectic there and I enjoy being out in Penrith, you get your own space and it’s not as busy.
“That helps a lot of us as a team too. There aren’t too many distractions, we can just focus on rugby, friends and family.
“I can concentrate on what happens on the field and you feel that real connection to the community.
“I’ve great admiration for the English fans, the way they sing and get into it. I’m sure I’ll cop a fair bit of stick from the Wigan supporters but I’m looking forward to that.
“But I do enjoy just being able to live a regular life and somewhere down the track I wouldn’t be too opposed to trying it over here.
“I’ve plenty of things to do at Penrith first, though. Winning the World Club Challenge is one of them.”
Cleary and Penrith have already learned two things as they build up to Saturday’s sold out occasion – Manchester City have it all and Erling Haaland is human.
The Panthers are training at the Blues’ Etihad complex and they all watched the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, in which the Norwegian fluffed big chances.
Lessons learned from last year’s loss to St Helens Down Under are also being called on as Cleary added: “I didn’t know Erling is human for a while! He’s just so robotic in scoring so many goals but it was good to see he is human.
“It’s a pretty cool set-up. We’re very blessed and lucky to be able to do that, it’s a great start to the trip.
“Seeing what they have definitely makes you realise why they’re so successful – it’s a whole other world, a completely different scale to what any of us are used to.
“And we’re using what happened last year a fair bit. Saints were a great side and completely outplayed us.
“There’s a little bit of redemption this time around.”
Cleary, 26, is used to living life in threes. Penrith are three-times defending NRL champions, cementing their status as one of the best sides ever.
And there are three words he does not want to hear from father and coach Ivan – I’m just disappointed.
He told SunSport: “It’s fairly easy to overcome the father-son, player-coach difference. We’ve found the right mix now.
“He’s the coach, outside of that he’s dad but the biggest thing is we have that trust in each other.
“As a leader of the team, I can bridge the players with the coaching staff and have honest conversations with him.
“Telling me off as coach and as dad are quite similar. He hits me with the disappointed sort of chat. ‘I’m just disappointed’ which is worse!”
