Parra pot shot, Penrith return: Inside Ivan Cleary’s hilarious 20-minute awards night speech

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary loosened his tie and delivered a memorable speech at the club’s awards night, including a couple of light-hearted jabs at rival clubs. Inside the epic 20-minute speech.

Ivan Cleary.

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has continued the club’s three-peat celebrations by stealing the show with a hilarious 20-minute speech at their annual awards night.

The three-time premiership-winning coach captivated a huge audience with tales on his initial arrival in 2012, his dramatic exit, controversial return and emergence as a superpower.

The normally guarded coach was in a relaxed mood, taking light-hearted jabs at rival clubs, including the Wests Tigers, Parramatta, and the Melbourne Storm.

But none drew a louder reaction from a 500-strong crowd at the Merv Cartwright medal when he recalled the story of when former chairman Dave O’Neill gauged his interest in returning.

To which Cleary quickly replied: ‘F*** yeah’.

Ivan Cleary detailed his return to Penrith. Pictured at Wests Tigers. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty

TIGERS EXIT

What began as a coffee meeting turned into a dynasty.

“I was coaching the Tigers working my way through that rebuild down there. (O’Neill had) been asking for ages, I really didn’t have the time,” Cleary said.

“He just looked me straight in the eyes and goes, ‘Mate, do you want to come back to coach the Panthers?’

“I was just like ‘f*** yeah’.

“I went home and told (wife) Bec and she said ‘What?!’.

“That started a series of events that led me back to the club in 2019. There was so much potential at the club, they made the finals three years in a row.

“There was lots of success in the lower grades and lots of good kids playing there.

“Like Yeoy (Isaah Yeo), Nat (Nathan Cleary), Dly (Dylan Edwards), Romy (Jarome Luai) had debuted… the core of the team.”

Too many Parra fans in Penrith. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty

POP AT PARRA

While Cleary could immediately see the potential at the club, one sore point instantly caught his attention - there were too many fans of neighbouring rival Parramatta in the region.

It became a mission for Cleary to restore pride in the Panthers jersey.

“In those days, the community liked their team but it didn’t feel like they loved it,” he said.

“There weren’t a lot of people wearing Panthers kits around the suburbs. There were a lot of Parramatta fans, there are still too many around here today.

“You don’t see too many jerseys thankfully. There’s a lot of Souths fans, people that moved out here… I thought there was a real opportunity here.”

Cleary detailed the rebuild. Picture; Mark Kolbe/Getty

THE DYSFUNCTION

Penrith missed the finals in Cleary’s first year in charge finishing 10th.

Cleary revealed the ‘dysfunction’ of the roster at his disposal called for an overhaul of the squad.

“I found out quick that it wasn’t the team I thought it was. I thought it was dysfunctional. So much talent that wasn’t connecting. We went on this course of trying to create a winning culture,” Cleary said.

“We need to bring the next crop of kids that we had through the team. We had to move players on, it wasn’t their fault or personal. They probably didn’t understand what we needed and to become a functional team we had to change some stuff.”

Penrith after the 2020 loss to the Storm. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty

STORM PAYBACK

The changes worked, until Penrith met Melbourne in the 2020 grand final.

“No one expected anything special from us (in 2020). We won 17 games in a row, we were minor premiers. We were young, we were fit and hungry,” Cleary said.

“We went to the grand final that year and thought ‘F***’, no one can beat us.

“As it turned out Melbourne Storm kicked our arse that night. It’s not easy for me to say. But I think we got a few games back on them... ”

Cleary forced his players to watch a replay of that grand final loss, hoping that out of the pain there was a lesson on what it takes to win titles.

“The best club season in history, the rampaging Melbourne Storm, but we got them at Suncorp Stadium where they hadn’t lost in a million years,” he said.

“Then we somehow went on to beat the Rabbitohs to win the premiership.”

BACK-TO-BACK

But the Panthers weren’t done.

Not satisfied with avenging their grand final heartache, the Panthers went about defending their crown without star duo Matt Burton and Kurt Capewell.

“We knew we were going to lose Api (Koroisau) and Kiks (Viliame Kikau as well)… All this work, and pathways, we are finally winning and people are taking it away from us,” Cleary said.

“We saved our best for last against the Parramatta Eels, they played the best game of the season. (After) back-to-back, surely that’s enough.”

WHOLE OF BRISBANE

But it wasn’t.

Consecutive one-point losses to St Helens in the World Club Challenge, and then Brisbane in round one, would prove the catalyst for the Panthers’ threepeat.

“It was heartbreaking, it was a trophy the club had never won. That lit a fire in our boys,” Cleary said.

“Forget about our little pocket. These guys have the whole of Brisbane, super well resourced.

A shock loss to the Tigers was also a turning point.

“Anyone go to Bathurst (in round nine) that night? How good was that? Pouring rain, freezing cold… we lost to the Tigers,” Cleary said.

“They played really well that night. They hadn’t won a game, they were due. God love Api Koroisau, one of our favourites. He led them to a great win.”

Originally published as Parra pot shot, Penrith return: Inside Ivan Cleary’s hilarious 20-minute awards night speech