Manchester: Rugby league’s most clutch participant has backed Nathan Cleary to ship his greatest recreation of the World Cup within the remaining in opposition to Samoa on Sunday AEDT.
Kangaroos five-eighth Cameron Munster lives for the large video games, however his halves accomplice remains to be creating his potential to constantly ship on the largest stage.
Cleary is but to stamp his mark on this World Cup and there have been requires veteran Daly Cherry-Evans to exchange him within the remaining.
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But coach Mal Meninga caught stable with the Panthers playmaker, and Munster stated the criticism of Cleary has been overblown.
“I think he’s been pretty solid, I know he’s got a lot of high expectations on himself and we all do,” Munster stated.
“But when you’ve got the best of the best playing alongside you, at times blokes are going to outshine you and other time you’re going to have an okay game.
“When you look at the stats, he’s had a consistent three weeks. At Penrith he’s the heart and soul of that team in terms of structure and organisation, so when he comes to big teams like us or even Origin, he obviously won’t shine as much as he’d like to.
“But that’s footy when you’re playing for Australia, there’s so many good players outside you and inside you, anything can happen.”
Munster stated Cleary, who turned 25 this week, has grown in confidence all through the event.
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“He’s definitely come out of his shell, he’s talking a bit more in meetings,” Munster stated.
“At the start he was sitting back a little bit and letting the other guys have a chat but now he’s starting to stamp his authority on the team a bit more and have his say and a lot of the boys are listening to him.
“He’s done a lot in the game for such a young age and everyone is listening to him.”
Munster has delivered standout performances in grand finals and Origin deciders lately.
The 28-year-old revealed he realized deal with huge video games from Kangaroos legends Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk.
“It’s easy when you’ve got blokes around you who are really good, especially playing for Australia when you’ve got the best of the best playing alongside you,” he stated.
“Big games… listening to Billy and Cam and Cooper, the bigger the game the simpler the game plan for me – run the ball and make my tackles.
“If I can do that for the team on Saturday it will go a long way to winning.”