Hours after Nathan Cleary won the NRL grand final Mary Fowler scored for Man City

Possibly fuelled by the history-making deeds of her superstar NRL boyfriend Nathan Cleary in the grand final, Matildas star Mary Fowler starred for Manchester City in the hours after Penrith’s win.

Fowler wasn’t able to make it to Accor Stadium to watch another Cleary grand final masterclass in his team’s fourth-straight triumph but posted a loved-up tribute to him on Instagram before starting for the Women’s Super League side against West Ham.

Simply tagged “him” with a fire emoji, Fowler made clear her feelings after the win before scoring one goal and setting up another hours later in City’s 2-0 win over West Ham.

“A good weekend indeed,” Fowler said in another Instagram post after her team’s win.

In the lead-up to the grand final, Cleary said it had been “crazy” learning to deal with the attention he and Fowler drew, particularly from the paparazzi.

“It’s been weird,” he said.

“When you start playing NRL consistently and then Origin, you are in the spotlight a lot more, but it’s more so around your footy.

“When that first happened, I found it hard to deal with. But now I feel like people criticise me or look at my footy, it’s just a part of the game and I deal with that absolutely fine.

“The personal life (intrusion) was another spanner to deal with. Thinking about her and how she’s going to have to deal with it has been a bit different. I’ve wrapped my head around it now, but at the start it was all a bit crazy.”

Fowler was given the opportunity to start for Manchester City in the absence of rested star striker Khadija Shaw and played a key role, getting a win over Matildas teammate, and West Ham captain, Katrina Gorry.

Other Matildas in action included Tottenham defender Clare Hunt, who scored her first goal for the club in a 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool.