Rogers declares Cleary as the greatest NRL player he’s ever seen

On the back of a trademark Nathan Cleary performance on Friday night, SEN’s Mat Rogers has declared the Penrith Panthers star as the greatest player he’s ever seen.

Coming into the qualifying final on Friday night after avoiding a potentially devastating diagnosis of a shoulder injury, Cleary steered the Panthers to a first half demolition of the Roosters and helped book their spot in a fifth-straight preliminary final.

After already being considered by many as one of the all-time greats, Cleary has earned the highest of praise from Rogers.

“I’ve got to give him his flowers, I think he is (the best player I’ve ever seen),” Rogers said on SEN 1170 Sportsday.

“So many of the young fans nowadays they watch what Penrith are doing and they think, ‘This just happens’, no it doesn’t happen, it’s never happened.

“A team has never played in five Grand Finals (in a row) in the modern era, no one has won more than two Premierships back-to-back in the modern era.

“I just want people to understand how unbelievable what Nathan Cleary and this Penrith team are doing.”

Rogers also emphasised the incredible leadership of Cleary, despite the Panthers constantly having to retool the side on a year-by-year basis.

“He’s losing players every year, left right and centre but they build the side around him,” Rogers added.

“They get his go forward right, they get his edge players and he steers the ship.

“The way he came out on (Friday night), I laughed, I watched it and I laughed, he’s playing backyard footy with these blokes.”

SEN’s Scott Sattler revealed his belief that this year’s Grand Final will be dictated by the performance of Cleary to which Rogers replied: “Absolutely it will be, no question about it.”