Ukraine pursue Cleary brother in surprise international call-up

Ukraine rugby league is seeking the participation of Jett Cleary to make his international test debut in the European Championships at the end of the regular season.

Dan Beardshaw, coach of the Ukraine national team, has been in discussions with the 21-year-old about playing along side his cousin Phoenix Death, son of the former NRL hooker Jason Death, who has in the past pulled on the Ukrainian jersey, the NRL reports.

Jett Cleary, younger brother of Penrith Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary, currently plays for the New Zealand Warriors Jersey Flegg team.

Both Jett and Nathan qualify for the Ukraine national team thought their maternal grandmother, Marie.

Cousins of the Cleary brothers, Phoenix and Cruz Death, who both play for Penrith in the SG Ball team, also qualify to represent the Ukrainian Tridents, as they share the same maternal grandmother.

Like many European Rugby League members, Ukraine will look to garner experience from heritage players, who in turn give domestic players an opportunity to play alongside professional and semi-professional players from the likes of Australia, New Zealand and England.

As a part of the Men’s European Championship, Ukraine will compete in Euro C division and will face Italy in Italy on October 18, before taking on Greece also in Italy four days later on October 22.

Both Ukrainian games will be played centrally in Italy at Pasian Di Prato – the venue of the 2022 European U19’s Championships to accommodate Ukraine’s involvement who are unable to stage a home game due to their current home war.

President of the Ukraine Heritage Rugby League, Matt Girvan said that Cleary is “quite keen” to make his debut for Ukraine at the European Championships.

“Our coach Dan Beardshaw is in regular contact with Jett about how he’s going with his footy and the move over to New Zealand.”

“He is pretty keen and committed, and one of his cousins, Phoenix, has played for Ukraine in the European U19s last year,” he said.

In a 2023 post on X, Nathan Cleary talked about being proud of his Ukrainian heritage and said he also hopes that one day he will be able to “pull on that Ukrainian Jersey for a game.”

In the meantime, Ukraine will field an Australian-based heritage team to take on Thailand in an Emerging Nations match at North Sydney Oval on June 8 as part of the Beer, Footy, Food Festival – which features the NSW Cup game between the Bears and Panthers.

Beardshaw will select seven players from the game against Thailand to play in to European Championships alongside the Ukrainian domestic squad players in October.