This Cleary won two titles in 2025. Then he went and did something really special

4 hours ago 5

In a season in which he has won more grand finals than his famous brother and father, and moved closer to an NRL debut after a successful shift across the Tasman, Jett Cleary reckons the highlight has been representing his Ukrainian heritage.

It has been a heady year for the youngest member of the famous footballing clan. In a bid to escape the Sydney spotlight, Cleary joined the Warriors, beginning the season in the Jersey Flegg before making his reserve-grade debut midway through 2025. That side went on to win not only their first NSW Cup title, but also the State Championship with a convincing 50-20 victory against Queensland Cup champions the Burleigh Bears.

“Not many people are fortunate enough to go into as dominant a team as what I did,” Cleary said. “Playing with all those players helped me so much, I learnt a lot this year. It was awesome.”

But there was an even greater life experience to come. Cleary was one of eight Australian-based players selected to represent the Ukrainian rugby league team in two European Championship Test wins against Italy and Greece.

“It was one of the best things I’ve done in my career so far,” Cleary said. “It was awesome to see how our game has grown and the boys in the Ukraine love our sport.

“I was originally telling my mum that I don’t think I’ll play, I’ve got a big preseason coming up and I’ll focus on that. But there’s not many times in your life you can represent Ukraine and not many people have done that for rugby league. To go over to Europe and do that was a cool opportunity and she said she’d like me to go over and represent Ukraine. I did, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”

Warriors halfback Jett Cleary represented Ukraine in rugby league during the off season.

Cleary qualifies for Ukraine through his maternal grandmother, Maree.

“She was originally born in Germany in a concentration camp, she came over when she was two,” Cleary said.

“It was a cool thing to speak about with a few of the Aussie boys, how they are Ukrainian. [Their grandparents] were all born in concentration camps before they came over.

“There’s a few grandparents who were probably on the same boat coming over to Oz. We were sharing stories about what’s been taken away from them in the war, it’s very eye-opening.

“One of the boys told about how his house got bombed, how his family had to relocate. I’m grateful they shared their stories with us.

“They were going through such a tough time, but they still wanted to come and play rugby league. It was an awesome experience that I’ll cherish forever.”

Like his brother Nathan and father Ivan, Cleary was part of the Panthers system. However, the 20-year-old halfback joined the Warriors in a bid to make his own name away from the Sydney fishbowl.

“Moving over there away from family and friends was probably the toughest thing I’ve ever done,” Cleary said. “Me and dad were talking about it, [the scrutiny] is going to be there wherever I go, there’s no shying away from it.

Jett Cleary made a successful move to the Warriors.

“There was definitely less spotlight on me this year and it was probably one of the reasons why I strung together some all right footy this year. The Warriors fans and media have been so good to me, I’m super grateful for that. It’s been a good move across the ditch, that’s for sure.”

Cleary was amused by viral social media posts pointing out that he “had one more comps than any other Cleary in 2025.”

“That was cool. I saw all those posts, they were pretty funny and we were joking about it as a family,” he said.

“It’s nothing to be taken away from them, they have been unreal for the past four years and were only one short this year. Hopefully they can win another one next year - maybe the Warriors can beat them and win it.”

Jett Cleary in action for the Warriors in their NRL State Championship grand final against the Burleigh Bears.

Cleary is inching closer to an NRL debut after coming off the Warriors bench for their two grand final wins.

“That’s definitely the goal,” he said. “I’ve many things to work on and I need to start playing better footy to get there. Hopefully that happens in the future.”