Copyright news
After the full-time siren, Cleary beelined for the crowd, where his partner and Matildas star Mary Fowler and father Ivan Cleary were sitting. Watch the 2025 Rugby League Ashes LIVE with no ad-breaks in play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. The couple has spent several months apart as Fowler continues her ACL recovery in Manchester, England, with the Matildas superstar not set to return to action until after Christmas. She took a short break from her rehab to make the trip to Liverpool to support Cleary and spend some time with her beau. As Cleary got to the sidelines he immediately embraced Fowler in a beautiful moment, before shaking the hand of his dad and Panthers coach Ivan Cleary, who also made the trip to the UK to support him. But it was the embrace with Fowler that melted hearts as both were pictured beaming ear to ear, with Code Sports sharing photos of the beautiful moment. “Aww, that’s so sweet,” one commented after pictures of the pair circulated social media. “He is an absolute legend,” another added. While a third said, “So nice to see them both so happy”. It comes after Cleary revealed he hadn’t seen Fowler in a “few months” and was excited to once again be by her side. “It’s been a few months now, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her,” Cleary said ahead of the Ashes tour. “She has to work it around her rehab, but she is trying to come to the last two games. She is starting to understand (rugby league) a little bit, but she’s not (across) the rules. “When we first met, the only rugby league player she knew was Johnathan Thurston. I asked her if she knew of Sonny-Bill Williams, but she didn’t know him. She was pretty naive to it all.”
