Had the greatest defenders in rugby league history been invited to a banquet around a long table, Penrith 2003 grand final hero Scott Sattler said Nathan Cleary would deserve a seat on the reserve.
Sattler, whose goal on Roosters winger Todd Byrne in the 2003 final is part of NRL folklore, says Cleary’s unique abilities are set to change the way coaches teach their coaches. basic player skills.
Cleary will play the third consecutive Grand Final when the Eels face Parramatta on Sunday, after winning the Clive Churchill medal for best on the floor in last year’s triumph.
“We are seeing greatness with Nathan. We’re in the middle of a 24-year-old boy who hasn’t found the best part of the game yet, ”Sattler told AAP.
“If he wins on Sunday, he has won two of the three Grand Finals. Joey (Andrew Johns) played two and won two. Alfie (Allan Langer) played four and won four. JT (Johnathan Thurston) played three and when he was a dead legend in 2015 he iced the final with a gold basket.
“Dominant halves like Nathan overwhelm the opposition with their greatness.”
Johns recently said Cleary was ahead of him and Thurston at the same age. Sattler agrees.
Cleary’s arsenal, with its variety of grubbing kicks and floating bombs, is top-notch, but Sattler said he’s reinventing the wheel with his passing game.
“Nathan goes against everything you were taught as a young man with his passing game,” Sattler said.
“It does totally different things and the game needs that unpredictability. In the next six years or so, it may change the way we train players with their core skills.
“He will do a spiral or a flat pass, but it will also look like he wants to turn someone at an angle, but then, as he turns his back on the defense, he will move them to the outside with a high pass in the direction he is running.
“You are taught not to do it with your back to the defense, but he does it by running and he does it with enthusiasm.
“It is special.”
Sattler doesn’t like comparing halves, but he has a profound way of explaining where Cleary fits in the pantheon of greats.
“If you have all the positions sitting around dinner at a big long table one night and you have the best midfielders who have ever played, who is sitting at that table?
“You’ve got Joey, Alfie, JT, Tom Raudonikis, the great Billy Smith… all those kinds of guys. Could Nathan Cleary be at this table? Absolutely, he could be. He is sitting at the same table trying to have dinner with them.
“If he wins the Grand Final on Sunday, and probably another Clive Churchill medal, he commands the entrance.”