Nigel Wiskar bumped into Aussie superstar Nathan Cleary on the morning of the Super League Grand Final – along with one of those due to play at Old Trafford just five hours later
The best rugby player in the world is sitting with a group of friends in the food court at Altrincham Market.
Serving staff scoot by as healthy-looking families (and their healthy-looking dogs) enjoy their Saturday lunchtime. Nobody gives a second glance to the best rugby player in the world, not least myself as I stand by the the steak sandwich counter with the desperate and demented look of a man who has had just the two slices of toast for breakfast. And then a sharp dig in the back and a voice that says: “Dad. Nathan Cleary is here.”
My initial reaction involves a word that almost rhymes with Jane Horrocks, well the Horrocks bit at least. But who am I to doubt the teenager who spent the first 90 minutes on the four-hour drive here discussing the potential team permutations from every squad in the 2024 Pacific Championships? Cleary is in elite company too.
His casually-dressed friends are all elite international rugby league stars. The Englishman is Michael McIlorum, the Aussie is Mitchell Pearce and the Kiwi is Shaun Kenny-Dowall. And sitting next to Cleary – and flying the Samoan flag – is his former Penrith Panthers teammate Tyrone May. In little over five hours’ time May will be six miles from here walking out at Old Trafford for the Grand Final.
His Hull KR coach Willie Peters is at the market too, looking relaxed and accepting handshakes and ‘good luck’ wishes from the pair of us. The group are warm and welcoming when I ask if I can take a picture of my lad with them. The one non-player with them insists I’m in the shot too and takes my phone from me.
My lad’s excitement comes partly from the simple realisation about what a hot property Cleary is right now. Before any Warrington fan gets excited about his presence and the preposterous link to their club, it’s far simpler than that. Cleary’s partner Mary Fowler plays for Manchester City and he’s over to see her.
The next day she will play in a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield in front of around 18,000 fans. Australian coaching guru Phil Gould reckons there is more to come from Cleary which is a terrifying thought given the weapons he has as a scrum-half. In the very simplest of terms, he can kick, he can pass, he can run…and he is the best at all of them in that position.
In the Grand Final we watch two very good opposing number sevens – though when you brutally break down their games, one is a runner, one a kicker. Wigan’s Harry Smith chooses Joe Burgess as his wing target. Ryan Hall is largely ignored which is perhaps the wiser option. Smith’s boot is clean and crisp and flawless throughout. The drop goal before half-time effectively seals what was always going to be a tight and low-scoring game.
Rovers’ Mikey Lewis is the runner, more renegade and has been a joy to watch this season. Tonight he simply can’t free the shackles of that relentless Wigan defence blanket. Peters is steadily improving his game though and Lewis should learn from this and come back stronger.
Soon England coach Shaun Wane will have to choose between Smith and Lewis to partner his captain George Williams in the halves against Samoa. It will surely be Smith. That nagging Wigan bias aside, Smith is the more pragmatic choice for Wane and performed well for him against Tonga last year.
Which means the current Steve Prescott Man of Steel may well be sitting in the stands for the two-game series. This may be an error – or may hint that England have more depth in their backline than in recent memory. Warriors fans argue Bevan French should be Man of Steel and when you watch him ruthlessly slice through for the one try of the game, you can see why.
But a spell out injured probably cost him that accolade and while he’s a rather obvious choice for the man of the match tonight, it’s the wrong call. Yes, it’s fitting someone who illuminates Super League both on and off the pitch with flair, grace and intelligence should be the inaugural winner of the Rob Burrow award. Yet to secure 25 of the 31 votes cast seems a lazy choice.
Luke Thompson was colossal in this game. The Wigan prop was hailed part of the best front row in the world when he played at St Helens with Alex Walmsley and James Roby. An injury-plagued spell with Canterbury Bulldogs and a relatively innocuous start back here in Super League raised questions.
No more. I counted him on the pitch for 75 minutes and he was surging as strongly in the dying stanza as he was in the first minutes. This bodes well for England. Wigan may look back in years to come and wonder if having a string of sweets around your neck is a good look when photos from the event are used to mark their achievement this year.
Four trophies in a calendar year is deserved and they have taken Saints’ mantle as the benchmark for the game here. Four is the magic number for Cleary too after Panthers claimed their latest NRL title. After two on the bounce, time will tell if Wigan can double that and emulate Saints and Penrith. On this evidence, that is distinctly possible.
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