Do we like them?

Do we like Nathan Cleary?

Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean harm record and some real kindness, held back by a 2020 lockdown breach and thin public comment on LGBTQ+ issues.

Nathan Cleary is Penrith's star halfback and one of the best-known faces in the NRL. His public story is mostly footy rather than fights. The reporting we could find has him in the headlines for discipline and contract talk, not for anything about how he treats people.

The one real stain is from 2020. During the COVID lockdown he had friends over, which breached the social distancing rules. He first said they'd only visited briefly, but video later showed him dancing with them. He accepted a two-game NRL ban and a $30,000 fine for being untruthful with the league's integrity unit. He called his actions “irresponsible, selfish and pretty stupid.”

On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up. When the 2023 Voice referendum came around, he posted a short video saying “No Voice, No Choice. Come on Australia. Vote Yes.” He wore a shirt backing the Uluru Statement from the Heart. In 2025 he said it was “pretty sad” that people were still making sexist-style digs at the Matildas after Marty Sheargold's on-air comments. We found nothing from him on trans rights, climate or vaccines, either way, so that part of the record is thin.

The latest chapter shows him at his best. After Crossland's tackle ended his season and ruled him out of the World Cup, Cleary posted on Instagram that it was an accident. He said Crossland had apologised privately. He called out the abuse Crossland copped and wrote “Spread love, not hate.” Plenty of players would have let the pile-on run.

We checked who he works with and found nothing worrying. His public record is club footy, State of Origin and the odd ad, with no tie to the grievance-and-conspiracy crowd we watch for. That's a clean sheet on company, though a footballer's public statements are naturally limited.