Nathan Cleary has admitted he fears the Brisbane Broncos and believes they could be the downfall of the Panthers achieving their third consecutive NRL premiership.
The remarks from Cleary come from the official NRL Finals launch to kick off the 2023 series in Sydney on Monday. While the Panthers are clear favourites to walk away with the premiership, the Broncos have been battling them the entire year for the Minor Premiership and are second favourites to win the competition.
Cleary believes that the halves duo of Ezra Mam and Adam Reynolds, as well as fullback Reece Walsh, will play a major role in the finals series and can deliver X-factor moments and create something out of nothing.
โI think the Broncos have been red hot all year. They've got a lot of X-factor," Cleary said via News Corp.
โThey're an exciting team, but they've also got a great forward pack with Adam Reynolds leading the way.
"They're a top-tier team, but the finals are a whole new ball game so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.โ
Cleary isn't the only NRL captain who is feared by the Broncos, with Cronulla Sharks skipper Wade Graham agreeing with Cleary's statement.
โIt's hard to go past the Penrith juggernaut because they're so impressive with how they go about their business,โ the Sharks captain said.
โI've played some good teams over the years, but they (Penrith) are up there.
โI can see Brisbane causing some issues if they get to play out of Suncorp.
โThey're exciting, they've got big, strong forwards, their backline is as exciting as anyone's and they've got Adam Reynolds steering the ship.โ
Despite being a while away from facing one another, Adam Reynolds believes the Broncos could topple the Panthers, breaking their own premiership drought and ruining the chances of Penrith claiming three consecutive titles.
The Broncos have continually shown they have the attacking star power to compete with Penrith which is headlined by Reynolds and representative players Herbie Farnworth, Selwyn Cobbo and Reece Walsh.
They also have a brilliant forward pack that can compete against the likes of James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota and Liam Martin. In what would be an amazing clash for fans to view, Reynolds believes that Brisbane could walk out as victors.
โWe definitely have the team to win it,โ Reynolds said.
โWe have shown through the season that we can compete with the best teams in the competition. We can beat the best teams.
โI think Penrith are the team to beat. They have been there and done it before. They have been the form team of the competition for the last four or five years, they have big-game players and a lot of experience in that team.
โNathan Cleary is one of the best players in the competition, they are a team that relies heavily on their systems and they do it so well.
โTheir best game isn't too far away from their worst game, so they are a very consistent team, but we have to embrace this challenge that has been tossed up.โ
