 After having made his representative début in the centres for NSW in the second game of the 1981 Interstate series against Queensland at Sydney's Leichhardt Oval (the last game played under the old "State of Residence" rules), Cleal represented the NSW Blues in 12 State of Origin games between 1984 and 1988.Some of Cleal's best football was played at the State of Origin level, he was the NSW forward who troubled Queensland most at a time when the Blues were just beginning to match the passion of their interstate rivals.He is commonly known as the man who coined the inspirational phrase "Dare to Dream" which was an extract from the game and series winning pep talk given by him during half time of game 2 of the 1985 state of origin series.