NRL News: Cleary 'wants to be greatest of all time', JWH & Holmes may get ban boost, Indigenous great passes away

Nathan Cleary has announced his desire to be considered the best rugby league player in history in a sweeping interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking to Michael Chammas, Cleary said that he was a long way off yet, but has aspirations to reach that level.

“I wouldn’t say it motivates me, but it’s something I want to get to,” he said. “It’s something I want for myself. I feel like if I can get the best out of myself, then I could play to a level that may be considered great or in that conversation.

“At the end of the day, that’s not up to me. It will be something that’s talked about further down the track and that will be other people’s opinion. What I can control is what I do every day and how hard I work. It’s a battle against myself. That’s what motivates me.

“I know there is so much more I can do and learn and get better at. Each day is an opportunity to live up to that. People can have their opinion or form what my legacy will be, but that’s a by-product of my everyday actions and the games I play. I think that’s what motivates me.”

“It’s about me, but it really has nothing to do with me. It’s just opinions. Some people have negative opinions, some people have positive opinions. If you’re chasing the positive opinions and read into them too much, the negative ones will affect you more. I try and stay on that equilibrium and try and get the best out of myself.”

JWH and Val Holmes may get ban reprieve

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has been named in the Kiwis provisional squad for the Pacific Championships, potentially earning him the chance to go to Las Vegas with the Roosters at the start of next season.

JWH is banned for the entire international calendar, but if New Zealand say that they would have picked him, then he will be able to count their fixtures against his seven match ban.

Waerea-Hargreaves has already served three matches, with the Roosters’ unlikely run to the second week of the finals adding two extra games to his season.

The Kiwis play Samoa and Australia, and could also get to the final, which would add another, plus next year’s Maori All Stars game to complete the seven required.

Should Mal Meninga do the same with Valentine Holmes – who faces a ban from the NRL Integrity Unit for his white powder photograph – then he would also be able to claim those games as time served, though he was not named in the PM XIII squad to face Papua New Guinea.

Holmes played regularly in the last World Cup and, given the Kangaroos’ issues with depth in the centres, would almost certainly have been picked. He is yet to be formally banned, but has been issued with a breach notice.

Indigenous great Lionel Morgan passes away

Indigenous rugby league pioneer Lionel Morgan has died, aged 85.

The first Indigenous player to represent Australia in rugby league, Morgan scored a double on debut against France in 1960 before playing two more Tests against the nation.

The winger, who died on Saturday night in Brisbane, also played 12 interstate matches for Queensland against NSW between 1960 and 1963, scoring 11 tries.

A player and coach with Wynnum-Manly in the Brisbane Rugby League, Morgan was named in the Australian Indigenous rugby league team of the century in 2008.

“It was a fitting reward and left him proudly alongside the likes of Arthur Beetson, Johnathan Thurston and Steve Renouf,” ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said in a statement.

“Lionel Morgan was a trailblazer.

“The Australian Rugby League Commission and everyone across the game will be very saddened by Lionel’s passing, but his legacy will remain forever.

“He was and always will be an inspiration to many of our players.”

A minute’s silence was observed before Sunday’s Queensland Cup grand final for Morgan, and for the Maroons’ first State of Origin coach John McDonald, who died last Wednesday.

With AAP