Ivan Cleary, the head coach of the Panthers, has admitted that following his first season back with the team in 2019, he briefly considered leaving the organization because he previously felt like a burden on his son, Nathan.
An emotional Cleary described the suffering he caused himself and his family when he left the Wests Tigers to join Nathan at the Panthers, and he explained why he was prepared to give it all up.
“I was thinking about the end in that first year. I was,” he told this masthead amidst the wild celebrations inside the team’s dressing room late Sunday night.
“I felt very burdened by the father-son thing. Nathan wasn’t playing well, and I felt guilty for that. I felt like a burden on him. Then I was wondering ‘maybe I’m not the right man for this job’. I just could never have imagined what the next four years would be like. I’m glad we stuck it out.”
Sunday night’s historic three-peat marked the end of five years of Cleary’s second-coming at the Panthers – the length of the handshake agreement that was made between himself and former chairman Dave O’Neill over a $4.20 coffee at a cafe on the outskirts of Penrith.Lost in the mayhem and confetti of another grand final triumph was an embrace between the coach and the man who brought him back to the club.
“Mate, look what you have started,” Cleary said in a warm exchange with former chairman O’Neill, who was on the field as a guest of the club.
It was O’Neill who, without the knowledge of the board at the time, lured the coach back to Penrith by enticing him out of his contract with the Tigers in one of the most dramatic and controversial stories of that season.
“Honestly, I didn’t. When he asked me, my whole being was like ‘absolutely’. That’s just how I felt. My heart was still at Penrith.
Ivan Cleary, the head coach of the Panthers, has admitted that following his first season back with the team in 2019, he briefly considered leaving the organization because he previously felt like a burden on his son, Nathan.
An emotional Cleary described the suffering he caused himself and his family when he left the Wests Tigers to join Nathan at the Panthers, and he explained why he was prepared to give it all up.
Perhaps in retrospect, he was correct, but there were numerous rumors that JP (Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe) had promised to bring Nathan over to the Tigers. I went and did the opposite, returning Ivan. Keep the halfback, get the coach. What follows is history.
With the Clive Churchill Medal slung around his neck, Nathan Cleary claims he was never going anywhere.
He is aware of the suffering and ridicule his father went through when he left the Tigers.
He didn’t get the outcome he desired at the Tigers, according to Nathan.
“This was just too good of an opportunity to give up. We may have never been able to link together. The opportunity to do it at Penrith, which feels like home for us, was something he couldn’t pass up. It hurt him a lot, but to stand here today with this feeling, it makes it all worth it. It’s pretty special.”
During Nathan’s post-match speech after receiving the Clive Churchill Medal for the second time in his career, the game’s best halfback sent an ominous warning to rival clubs.
“We’re only getting started,” he declared. His father also shares same opinion.
Ivan remarked, “It’s difficult to understand and put into words what I felt when I got back. “All we wanted to do was make this club something of which people could be proud. I consider it to be a 10-year journey or an ongoing, never-ending journey. I never would have thought we could accomplish what we have.
There has never been a conclusion. We still seem to have a ton of work to do. Simply said, we’ll continue to uplift our neighborhood. I would have returned to this club for far less special moments than that one, when Nathan scored the winning goal.