WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Facebook posts detail news about Penrith Panthers' coach and a player.
OUR VERDICT
False. The stories are fake.
AAP FACTCHECK - Disinformation merchants are pumping out fake news stories about the Penrith Panthers in a bid to get fans to click on links to suspicious websites.
The Panthers are sitting second on the table after three consecutive wins going into round four of the 2026 NRL season.
The 'Black Cat League News' Facebook page is posting false claims alongside real photos and details from old news stories to trick readers
Each post includes a link in the comments to an external website laden with ads and further false claims.
One post claims the club is mourning the death of a fan who was a local firefighter and includes a supposed image of him.
"The Panthers Family is mourning the devastating loss of a 32-year-old local firefighter, paramedic, and devoted Penrith Panthers supporter who tragically gave his life while battling a severe blaze in Western Sydney," the caption reads.
However, this story is fake.
A Google reverse image search reveals the man pictured is 32-year-old Chicago firefighter Michael Altman, who died battling a fire in the US.
The same image was originally published in several US media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune.
Another post claims to show images of a seven-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer in a hospital bed, whom Penrith coach Ivan Cleary visited as her "last wish."
This story is also fake.
There are no credible reports of Cleary visiting a girl battling brain cancer, and the images actually show Branson Blevins, an 11-year-old boy from Alabama with leukaemia, according to a Facebook post.
Many posts focus on Panthers star Nathan Cleary.
One post falsely claims the halfback gave a large tip to a 24-year-old waitress named Lily.
It includes photos of the waitress and a meal receipt listing a $900 tip.
However, both images are from a 2016 Insider Edition article about a pregnant waitress who received a $900 tip in Phoenix, Arizona.
Another post reports Cleary had bought his childhood house and transformed it into a $3.2 million support centre for women and children.
The story is fake with no credible news reports confirming the claim.
A reverse image search reveals that the photo is from a New York Post article and shows the Oklahoma mansion of American singers Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.
The other image of Cleary standing next to a mother and baby depicts the Panthers' Christmas visit to Nepean Hospital and was originally published by the club.
The Facebook page also publishes AI-generated images.
One post features images of Cleary and his "wife", Matildas striker Mary Fowler, and claims they were asked to leave a luxury jewellery store for wearing casual clothing.
The story is fake, and while Cleary and the Australian footballer are in a relationship, they're not married.
A website linked in the comments shows the same images of the couple with a logo in the bottom corner, indicating they were generated using Google's Gemini AI tool.
The sales assistant also inexplicably appears in different outfits in the image of Cleary and Fowler being told to leave and the image showing them leaving the store.
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