Dance videos have Cleary in more strife
THE NRL is investigating two videos which emerged of Panthers star Nathan Cleary dancing with a group of women at his house while breaching strict COVID-19 lockdown laws.
The now-deleted videos were uploaded to popular social media platform TikTok and show Cleary performing two dances in his lounge room with the women.
It threw into question the Panthers halfback’s claims he was unaware photographs had been taken of him during an uninvited, impromptu stop-in on Anzac Day last Saturday.
“I spoke to the integrity unit about what happened but they didn’t ask me about the TikTok videos, they just asked me about the pictures,” Cleary said yesterday through the crack of his front door. “I wish I hadn’t done the video, just got carried away in the moment. I was stupid. I messed up.
“I’m just finding the whole social distancing and isolation stuff too much. It’s not something I’ve ever gone though before, it’s difficult. If they fine me more I’ll deal with that ... I’m just going to wait and see what happens when I speak to the integrity unit.”
While Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo Carr were each fined $20,000 ($50,000 with 60 per cent suspended) and issued with a one-game suspended sentence, Cleary was only hit with a $4000 punishment ($10,000 with 60 per cent suspended) and a one-game suspended sentence.
In explaining the large discrepancy between the punishments on Tuesday, acting NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said it was deemed Cleary’s interaction with the women was unexpected, as opposed to a planned camping trip.
Police said it would not take action against Cleary because the incident took place inside his own home.