Nathan Cleary has explained that he is in no rush to put pen to paper on a contract extension with the Penrith Panthers, with the Kangaroos star staying coy on what the future could hold for him.
Speculation has been mounting over whether Cleary will re-sign with the Panthers, with his contract set to expire at the end of the 2027 NRL season.
While it seems unlikely that he will leave the Panthers in two-year’s time, the 28-year-old has been touted with a cross-code switch to rugby union in the past, with ex-Australia boss Eddie Jones having joked that he would have driven from Coogee to Penrith to get him to swap codes.
The four-time premiership-winning half-back is currently working through pre-season training with the Panthers, but took a couple of days off to head to Adelaide to play in Thursday’s LIV Golf pre-am event.
Cleary teed up alongside Australia stand-in Test cricket captain Steve Smith, with the group seen smiling and joking with compatriot Cam Smith.
The Panthers and Kangaroos half-back spoke on what his future might hold during the event, admitting that he wasn’t thinking that far into the future.
Nathan Cleary has explained that he is in no rush to put pen to paper on a contract extension with the Penrith Panthers
The Penrith star’s contract will expire at the end of the 2027 season, but Cleary admits he is happy right now where he is
‘In my mind, there’s no need to make a decision right now,’ Cleary said at LIV Golf Adelaide on Thursday.
‘I don’t want to make decisions about my future too quickly, or jump the gun on anything.
‘At the end of the day, I love where I’m at right now. To me, I haven’t really thought too much about my future because I still have two years to run on my contract. I understand people will start to talk about it, but it’s not in my mind at all – it still seems so far away.
‘I look at how I want to be once I retire, I want to have no regrets – and that’s with the way I play, my preparation, whether I’m enjoying myself, contract negotiations… it’s a more holistic thing rather than just about contracts. I never want it to become a distraction. [But] it still feels so far away.’
It came after he was asked by Josh Mansour on the UNSCRIPTED podcast last week if he would consider leaving the Panthers.
‘Ummmm, I’m not sure,’ he said.
‘I would like to be [stay at the Panthers], but then it’s like the no regrets thing. Would I get to the end of my career and think: “Ah I wish I had tried something different?”
‘At this point in time, I’m happy being a Panther, it’s home to me. I couldn’t see myself in another jersey… but you just never know. So much can happen in a week let alone two years. So I’m still contracted for two years.’
After guiding the Panthers to their fourth-straight premiership title in 2024, Cleary (right) insisted that their NRL dynasty was not over
After guiding the Panthers to their fourth-straight premiership title in 2024, Cleary insisted that their NRL dynasty was not over.
Pressed on whether he’d switch to rugby union, he added: ‘I don’t know. I’m open to it.
‘I’m open to different possibilities, whereas, in the past I might have been like: “I’m locked into this”. But as I’ve said, that thing about having no regrets really drives me. At the moment it’s driving me to do my best for the Panthers and build that dynasty even more.
‘I don’t know, we’ll see what happens in due time.’
