Cleary’s showdown against Luai comes after the Tigers star gave his own teammate a massive spray.
Nathan Cleary insists he’ll be ready to respond if Jarome Luai tries to sledge him when the former teammates square off against one another for the first time in the NRL on Sunday. And if Luai’s spray for his own Wests Tigers teammate Jack Bird is anything to go by, there could be fireworks when the four-time premiership winners lock horns at CommBank Stadium.
Cleary’s Panthers climbed off the bottom of the NRL ladder with an 18-10 win over Parramatta on Sunday. And the four-time reigning premiers will be looking to register back-to-back victories for the first time this season against a Tigers side coming off the back of a four-point defeat to North Queensland.
It will be the first meeting between Cleary and Luai in the NRL, after the latter decided to join the Tigers at the end of last season. The pair won an astonishing 78 of 89 matches in the halves together for the Panthers and shared in all four of Penrith’s grand final triumphs as part of the greatest club dynasty in the NRL era.
Cleary admits it will be weird to view Luai as a rival again, having achieved so much alongside his good friend. The Panthers co-captain got the better of Luai’s Samoa in 2022 when Cleary helped the Kangaroos win the World Cup final but the Penrith star still has vivid memories of coming up against Luai’s St Marys Saints in his junior footy days for Penrith Brothers.
“We had a few duels back then but obviously it’s been a long time,” Cleary said. “I’m looking forward to it. “I do remember probably the biggest upset in junior footy history. We beat them one day and they were stacked. They were so good.
“They used to beat us just about 50-nil every time… and one day we got them. He (Luai) might have cried. I’m not sure that’ll happen again.” Cleary says he’s been impressed by the impact Luai has had on the Tigers since joining the three-time reigning wooden spooners and reckons they’re “one of the best teams in the comp” when momentum is on their side.
Cleary says the energy Luai brings is “probably his greatest asset” but played down suggestions there could be animosity when they square off. “There’s just always that mutual respect there. We don’t talk all the time but whenever we do or whenever we see each other, it’s always love,” he said.
You’ll never be able to take away what we’ve been able to achieve together.” But Cleary insists he will be ready to fight fire with fire if Luai resorts to sledging on Sunday. “I don’t really start the chirp but if he starts it then we’ll see,” Cleary said with a smile.
Jarome Luai captured giving Jack Bird an almighty spray
Luai has already shown that even his own teammates won’t be spared from a spray if they fail to meet standards after he was captured giving Tigers forward Jack Bird a bake during Saturday’s loss to North Queensland. Bird copped it after a miscommunication with prop Terrell May that saw a pass go to ground before Luai scooped up the footy and got smashed in a tackle.
Luai clearly felt it was sloppy from Bird but the Tigers co-captain was himself to blame after being sin-binned earlier on for holding down in the ruck off the back of multiple infringements. That proved costly as the Cowboys put on two tries to race out to an early lead , with the home side also running in three more either side of halftime when Adam Doueihi was binned.
The Tigers scored four tries in the final 20 minutes to set up a grandstand finish but it was ultimately too little, too late. Heath Mason impressed in his first game at No.6 and will be hoping to get another crack as Lachie Galvin’s replacement at the Tigers, who will be desperate to avoid four straight defeats.
