It comes as Wests Tigers captain Api Koroisau prepares to miss Saturday's clash against the Bulldogs with his back injury.
The Panthers pulled Cleary a day out from Thursday's victory over South Sydney, despite the star halfback making it through their captain's run.
The reigning premiers were keen to take a cautious approach with Cleary's fitness, given he had felt some tightness in his hamstring after the round-eight away game against North Queensland.
The five-day turnaround between that clash and the meeting with Souths also influenced the call to bring in Brad Schneider as Cleary's replacement.
Cleary's understudy during his initial injury lay-off, Schneider was important in the Panthers' 42-12 win.
Coach Ivan Cleary blamed himself for not making a decision to rest his son earlier in the week so Schneider could have more time with the team.
"That's on me, we should've made that call earlier," he said.
"We wanted to see how (Nathan Cleary) would go yesterday, hoping he'd get through it without any dramas.
"In the end, it just seemed to be too much risk.
"Brad came in and had done zero reps this week, or the week before, so I think he did pretty well."
Coach Cleary left no doubt when asked whether Nathan was expected to line up against the Dogs at home next Friday.
"Yes," he said.
Koroisau will miss the Tigers' clash with the Bulldogs at Accor Stadium, despite coach Benji Marshall initially feeling confident he would play.
The NSW State of Origin representative came off during the second half of the 34-10 loss to Brisbane on Saturday and sat out of training with his back injury four days later.
He did not require scans and returned to training for the captain's run on Friday.
Api Koroisau shoots a pass out of dummy-half in the loss against Brisbane. (Brett Costello/AAP PHOTOS)
"He's gotten better as the week's gone on. We were a little bit worried at the start of the week about him, but I'm pretty confident he'll play," Marshall said on Friday.
The Tigers had a change of heart only hours later, though, and have since brought Jake Simpkin into their 17 as Koroisau's replacement.
At the Panthers, Cleary confirmed fullback Dylan Edwards would be fit despite coming off in the final 10 minutes of the win over the Rabbitohs.
"Wherever I can, I try to give guys like 'Yeoy' (Isaah Yeo) and 'Dyl' a rest," he said.
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