Nathan Cleary admits he was ‘feeling the pressure’ from Matildas star girlfriend Mary Fowler during Penrith’s two-game losing streak: ‘She was showing me up for a while’
- Panthers have won three consecutive NRL premierships
- Lost their first two games of the season in 2024
- Cleary admitted he felt the heat
Penrith star Nathan Cleary may have three NRL premierships to his name but he admitted he was starting to feel the pressure from his superstar girlfriend Mary Fowler after a pair of shock losses.
The sporty power couple has been making headlines since Daily Mail Australia exclusively documented their first public appearance together in November 2023.
Cleary is the current New South Wales and Australian halfback, while Fowler burst onto the scene at last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup and also stars for Manchester City in England’s Women’s Super League.
And while the Matildas forward’s star continues to shine, the all-dominant Panthers hit a few speed bumps to start their season and title defense.
First, the Panthers were eliminated by English Super League side Wigan Warriors in the World Club Challenge in Great Britain.
Then the club suffered a shock NRL opening round loss to the Melbourne Storm. Things looked increasingly bleak as rivals Parramatta led at half-time in the second round, but the Panthers managed to break the game open in the second half.
Fittler shocked Cleary by asking him directly if he felt pressure from his superstar girlfriend Mary Fowler
Cleary was clearly embarrassed by the series of questions, but recovered and gave a measured response
After the win at Bluebet Stadium, Channel 9 commentator and NRL great Brad Fittler couldn’t resist taking a dig at Cleary and his relationship with Fowler.
“Did you feel the pressure because your girlfriend is such a winner?”
Footy Show co-host and former NRLW player Allana Ferguson burst out laughing and asked: ‘Where’s Mary? Where is Mary?’
“I wish she was here,” Cleary said with a smile. “She showed me for a while. We had two losses in a row.’
After the difficult start to the season, Cleary knows the Panthers will increasingly be the chaser after three consecutive titles, but they could not use previous results as motivation for this season.
“The three for this are ready,” he said.
“They are memories that we can look back on in the future when we are retired and old and tell our grandchildren – but this is a different game.
The fact that we have already won three does not give us any extra points or advantage this year. Maybe some experience, but it all starts again.’
Cleary and Fowler have been an Australian sporting power couple since teaming up on sponsorship events surrounding the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
The couple made their relationship work despite living on opposite sides of the world
Meanwhile, a shoulder injury to James Fisher-Harris soured Penrith’s hoodoo-breaking 26-18 defeat to bogey Parramatta on Friday evening.
Friday night’s victory in Penrith marked the first time since 2021 that the otherwise all-conquering Panthers had defeated their local rivals in a regular NRL match.
Still not back to their triple premiership, the Panthers came out on top, bombing certain tries either side of the break and proving uncharacteristically leaky on their goal line in the first half.
But back-to-back tries midway through the second stanza turned a two-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead and put the Panthers on their way to a first win of 2024.
“We came out to do a lot of things tonight, but there were some very uncharacteristic defensive mistakes,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said.
‘We missed a lot of tries, but the fact that we still created chances the week after you didn’t score a point is pleasing.
“It was a good win.”