Ivan Cleary has admitted there are NSW Origin halves contenders in better form than his son, however Nathan appears to have all but ensured he will hang onto his No.7 jersey.

After struggling through the opening few months of the NRL season, Nathan put in his best performance of the year in the Panthers’ scrappy and unconvincing 16-10 win over Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday night.

After his side won just two of their opening 10 games, plenty of questions were posed about his ability to rise to the game’s toughest arena.

Blues coach Brad Fittler watched Nathan from the sidelines on Thursday night and it’s understood he’s leaning towards retaining the 21-year-old, who he has known since the Panthers playmaker was a toddler.

Nathan will find out his fate when Fittler reads out his Origin I side at WIN Stadium on Sunday evening following St George Illawarra’s local derby with Cronulla.

At a time when the Panthers have been sprawled on the canvas and Nathan has struggled to get his side going, plenty of other halves contenders have emerged in the likes of Luke Keary, Adam Reynolds, Cody Walker and Mitchell Pearce.

The day prior Ivan launched an impassioned case for Nathan to retain his spot, but he admitted his son was behind some rivals on form.

“Freddy will pick a team that gives them the best chance to win,” Ivan said.

“There’s obviously so many good players in form in those halves positions, probably better form than Nathan. It’ll be up to Freddy to decide what he wants to do that.”

After his side trailed 8-0 early on, Nathan came up with two big plays midway through the second-half which changed course of the game.

First, he took a gamble by sticking a leg out at an Eels midfield kick and regathered to give his side valuable field position.

From the next set, Jarome Luai dabbed a banana kick into the in-goal which deflected off Reed Mahoney’s legs and Nathan dived on the ball to give his side what proved a wining lead at 16-10.

“I thought he looked like a guy in a team hellbent grinding out a win and doing enough to get that done,” Ivan said.

“Clearly the polish isn’t there on this team, but mind you both sides were having trouble with that, it was pretty slippery.

“I thought he did his job for his team.”