With the Panthers trailing 6-2, Cleary charged down a Matt Burton kick before regathering it with no one near him to score in the 55th minute.
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鈥淲hat a moment. Did anyone have that on their bingo card in this match?鈥 Andrew Voss said.
Because of a groin issue he carried into Origin 2, Cleary didn鈥檛 kick for goal, with Dylan Edwards instead holding the tee.
Edwards slotted the conversion in what proved the final scoring play of the match.
Edwards missed a simple penalty goal in the dying minutes which opened the door for the Bulldogs to steal the win.
The Bulldogs had one last chance to hit the front with the final play and it looked on when Stephen Crichton made a mini break close to the line but his pass was knocked down and went into touch.
Fox League鈥檚 Bryan Fletcher labelled it the 鈥済ame of the year鈥 on The Late Show with Matty Johns.
There was some drama inside the final three minutes, with the Bulldogs awarded a penalty after Brian To鈥檕 was placed on report for a contentious high shot.
With the kick to be 30 metres out and on the sideline, the Bulldogs elected to kick for touch instead of attempting the game-tying kick.
The game featured several bruising hits, with the tenacity of both teams the highlight.
鈥淚t鈥檚 semi-final like. The intensity has been high, it鈥檚 been end-to-end,鈥 Michael Ennis said on Fox League.
Fullback Connor Tracey was outstanding in the first half, recording two incredible try savers on Blaize Talagi.
鈥淭hat is a hell of a play. He hits him with everything he has,鈥 Cooper Cronk said in commentary.
But the Panthers held on to show their title defence is far from over.
They鈥檙e coached by a former Panthers assistant in Cameron Ciraldo and some of their best players won comps with Penrith.
But the Bulldogs found out they鈥檙e not quite there yet as they try to replicate what the mountain men have achieved lately.
They were dogged in defence as they have been all year, but you have to be perfect if you want to beat the best.
Ciraldo said on Wednesday that he had a plan A, plan B and plan C for how to use Lachlan Galvin, but he had to come up with something new just one minute into the contest when front-rower Daniel Suluka-Fifita was forced off.
The starting prop was ruled out by the independent head doctor after a heavy collision from the opening kick-off which threw their interchange plans into disarray.
Galvin came on 12 minutes into the second half for Reed Mahoney, with Toby Sexton shifting to dummy-half just as we saw when the Bulldogs beat the Eels.
The mid-season recruit gave away a penalty and struggled to make an impact after Sexton and Mahoney had earlier combined to set up Jacob Preston for the game鈥檚 first try on the back of some lovely short passes through the middle.
To鈥檕 got through plenty of work but there have to be concerns after he required strapping to his left knee in the first half and battled for the rest of the night.
To鈥檕 overcame a hamstring injury to score a hat-trick for the Blues last week but never looked comfortable on Thursday in a worrying sign ahead of game three on July 9.
Originally published as Nathan Cleary the hero as the Panthers pip the Dogs in a thriller