Nathan Cleary admits he was ‘feeling the pressure’ from Matildas star girlfriend Mary Fowler during Penrith’s two-game losing streak: ‘She was showing me up for a while’

Penrith star Nathan Cleary may have three NRL premierships under his belt, but he admitted he was starting to feel the pressure from his superstar girlfriend Mary Fowler after a couple of shock losses.

The athletic power couple have been making headlines since Daily Mail Australia exclusively documented their first public appearance together in November 2023.

Cleary is the established New South Wales and Australian half-back, while Fowler burst onto the scene at the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year and also plays for Manchester City in the English Women’s Super League.

And as the Matildas forward’s star continues to shine, the all-dominant Panthers hit a few speed bumps to kick-start their seasons and title defences.

First, the Panthers were knocked out by English Super League side Wigan Warriors in the World Club Challenge in Great Britain.

Then the club suffered a shock NRL opening round loss to the Melbourne Storm. Things looked increasingly bleak as rivals Parramatta led at half-time in round two, but the Panthers were able to break the game open in the second half.

Clearly embarrassed by the line of questioning, Cleary recovered to deliver a measured response

After the win at Bluebet Stadium, Channel 9 commentator and NRL great Brad Fittler couldn’t resist taking a shot at Cleary and his relationship with Fowler.

“Did you feel the pressure because your boyfriend is such a winner?”

Footy Show co-host and former NRLW player Allana Ferguson burst out laughing and asked ‘Where’s Mary? Where’s Mary?’

“I wish she was here,” Cleary said with a smile. ‘She showed me up for a while. We had two defeats in a row.’

After the tough start to the season, Cleary knows the Panthers will increasingly be chasing three straight titles, but they could not use previous results as motivation for this season.

“The three before this, they’re done,” he said.

“These are memories we can look back on later in the future when we are retired and old and can tell our grandchildren – but this is a different competition.

The fact that we have won three before does not give us any extra points or advantages this year – maybe a bit of experience, but it all starts again.’

Cleary and Fowler are Australia’s sporting power couple since joining sponsorship events surrounding the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

The couple have made their relationship work despite living on opposite sides of the world

Meanwhile, a shoulder injury to James Fisher-Harris soured Penrith’s hoodoo-hanging 26-18 defeat to bogey side Parramatta on Friday night.

Friday night’s win in Penrith marked the first time since 2021 that the otherwise all-conquering Panthers had defeated their local rivals in a regular season NRL game.

The Panthers were still not back to their treble premiership winning best, bombed certain tries either side of half-time and proved uncharacteristically leaky on their goal line in the first half.

But back-to-back tries midway through the second stanza turned a two-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead and had the Panthers on their way to a maiden victory in 2024.

“A lot of things we came to do tonight, we did, but (there were) some very uncharacteristic defensive lapses,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said.

‘We left a lot of tries out there but the fact that we created chances the week after you haven’t scored a point is pleasing.

‘It was a good win.’