In the wake of Penrith's decision to terminate the contract of controversial back Tyrone May, the club's star playmaker, Nathan Cleary, has added fuel to the flames via social media platform Instagram.

May's career at the foot of the Blue Mountains was cut short on Wednesday following the 25-year-old's choice to open old wounds from his guilty plea to four counts of intentionally recording intimate images without consent in 2020.

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The one-time Samoan international took to social media in the hours after Penrith's 2021 premiership victory and uploaded a now-deleted post that was deemed to bring both he and the club into disrepute.

While the tone-deaf post eventually saw May fined $7500 ahead of his ties to the Panthers being severed, the severity of both charges were not enough to deter Cleary from uploading a controversial post of his own.

Although the son of the coach steered clear of openly rehashing May's crimes, the halfback has not avoided scorn from the public for his inability to 'read the room' while offering support.

Given May's NRL career appears all but over, it remains unsurprising that Cleary has followed his former housemate's lead in deleting the aforementioned post.

However, it is not yet known whether the Origin representative is in line for any further punishment as neither the NRL nor Panthers have made any public comment.