Nathan Cleary ‘finally’ goes Insta official with Mary Fowler

NRL great Nathan Cleary has gone Insta official with Matildas star Mary Fowler after several months dodging the inevitable.

A photo of the couple together at a beach sat third in a gallery of photos uploaded by the Penrith Panthers halfback on Tuesday.

And fans all had one thing to say when the post went live on his account: “Finally.”

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Cleary captioned the post “that’s life” with an ice cream emoji — a subtle but clear reference to the very first hint back in August that they were an item.

The pair were spotted together cooling off after an Adidas event but Cleary’s camp denied dating rumours, saying it was “just ice cream” and nothing more.

Five months on, Cleary’s sister Indi joked about what prompted the sudden reveal.

“Watches a rom com, posts a debut. Love it,” she wrote.

Fowler’s Aussie teammate Lydia Williams said “aww that’s cute” but Cleary’s close friend Brian To’o couldn’t help himself — not for the first time — when he commented: “Mr and Mrs Cleary.”

Cleary, 26, and Fowler, 20, have only featured sparingly on their social media accounts despite beginning a relationship midway through last year.

Speculation was put to bed when they were photographed together in November while Fowler was back in the country for the Matildas’ Olympic qualifiers.

Cleary was also pictured picking Fowler up from Sydney Airport in December on her return home from the UK.

But despite the obvious giveaways littered throughout the past few months, neither footballer had made it official — at least not explicitly.

Both appeared to ‘soft launch’ each other in January.

Fowler posted a series of photos, captioned “R&R”, including one in which she can be seen through the reflection of the window on a balcony that overlooks a beach.

On closer inspection, a male figure that looked like Cleary also appeared in the reflection, wrapping his arms around Fowler from behind.

Cleary himself posted a series of photos, presumably taken from his Christmas and New Year period, in which Fowler appears to feature.

Though her face is not shown, the distinct cross tattoo on Fowler’s left hand clearly features in one of the photos.

Another photo shows Cleary resting his head on a pair of legs while lying on the beach, but there is no way of confirming they are Fowler’s — though it looks that way.

Fowler was asked about Cleary at a press conference around the New Year and promptly ended the session.

Notwithstanding that, Fowler still gave an incredible insight — before the elephant in the room ended things — into how it felt to be front and centre on the Matildas’ rollercoaster last year, which included making the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“When you start out, you don’t really think too much about these things,” she said.

“I never would have thought that I’d get the opportunities that I do now, but as I’ve got more opportunities being out in the spotlight a bit more, it’s made me realise the kind of responsibilities that you have to all these people that are watching you.

“I’ve always thought that the biggest way for me to inspire someone is for me being myself, so that’s what I do when I’m out there.

“I try to be genuine, and if that makes someone want to go after a dream or smile, then that would make me happy.”