300,000 kicks over 12 years: Cleary’s will to win is breaking his body

A couple of years ago, all but one member of the NSW Blues squad sat on the team bus outside Perth’s Optus Stadium after training, waiting to return to the team hotel.Back inside the stadium, he was walking around the ground and trying to visualise all the angles of a rectangular rugby league field on an oval stadium. It can be trickier than you think. He was assessing the wind and how it liked to swirl. He would practise some general play kicks and then work on his goalkicking.

I would estimate from the age of about 13, Cleary would have been practising almost every day. So, let’s say for the past 12 or 13 years, he’s kicked probably 500 balls a week. That’s around 300,000 kicks all told.It was around his age, 26, that I started having my own problems. It comes from an accumulation of all the work you do and the overtraining.

No matter what the cause, Nathan might have to go against every instinct he has, and consider the way he trains in the future.So, who plays halfback for NSW in the State of Origin series opener now Cleary has gone down? Well, it depends on how Michael Maguire wants his team to attack. Compare that to Queensland who have the likes of Daly Cherry-Evans, Cameron Munster, Harry Grant and Ben Hunt who have played so much football together.

I hate to say it, Manly fans, but there’s almost no chance of winning the title with Tom Trbojevic out for an extended period with another hamstring tear.

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