SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 18: Jakob Arthur of Parramatta runs the ball during the NRL trial match between the Parramatta Eels and the St George Illawarra Dragons at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on February 18, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Penrith Panthers superstar and captain Nathan Cleary has given Parramatta Eels’ Jakob Arthur a few words of advice.
“If you listen to the trolls all the time you go nowhere trying to please them,” Cleary told reporters on Monday.
While they’ll battle it out at Bluebet Stadium this weekend, Arthur and Cleary are two of only four current players (Billy Walters and Kyle Flanagan being the other two), to play under their father.
Cleary’s experience has been much more positive than Arthur’s.
Arthur is currently at the end of the battering ram being slammed against Brad Arthur and the Parramatta Eels. The 19-year-old Arthur recently moved into five-eighth, shifting Dylan Brown to centre amid injury woes to their outside backs.
It came as a surprise as Brown was one of the best players in NRL this season. Predictably, when the Eels’ performances began to wane, the coach’s son took most of the blame.
After the North Queensland Cowboys tore the Eels apart in Darwin on Saturday night to the tune of 35 points to 4, the online abuse directed at the young half earned a response from the Eels’ social media team.
Cleary has seen almost nothing but success in his young career. However, in 2019, Ivan Cleary’s first year in charge, the Panthers finished tenth. During this time people were also questioning if Cleary was the future of the NSW Blues.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 03: The Panthers celebrate with the NRL Premiership Trophy after victory in the 2021 NRL Grand Final match between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium on October 03, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“The first year we were together was pretty difficult,” Nathan Cleary said.
“It’s definitely not been smooth sailing the whole time. It was tough at the start… But once we got through that it probably made us stronger.”
Cleary’s cure to not letting the trolls get to you; focus on what the people that matter say. What the people at your club are saying, not outsiders.
“It’s just prioritising who you listen to,” he said.
“That’s the biggest thing I found. If you listen to the trolls all the time you go nowhere trying to please them.
“As for Jake’s experience. It’s hard when you’re young.
“But I’m glad it happened to me at such a young age because it allowed me to grow through it and deal with it.”
Assuming Brad Arthur sticks to his guns and keep his son in the halves, there is no better time to prove everyone wrong than at the Panthers’ home ground during the Battle of the West.
Source:: ZeroTackle
