Coach Ivan Cleary delighted to have ‘spunky’ hooker Api Koroisau back with Panthers after long absence
After admitting his early success ‘went to his head’, feisty hooker Api Koroisau is back with the Panthers after a break of almost four years, and coach Ivan Cleary couldn’t be more delighted.
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“He trained hard, he played hard, he partied hard.”
That’s the recollection Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has of Api Koroisau’s time at the foot of the mountains in 2015.
But when Cleary realised the “spunky” hooker wasn’t a done deal at Canterbury, as was being reported, he jumped at the chance to lure Koroisau back to the Panthers.
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“I just wanted to meet him,’’ Cleary said.
“I wasn’t going into the meeting with any preconceived ideas, I just knew his style of play was going to suit us and help us because I’d worked with him when I was here before. I knew he was our guy. But just in that meeting I could just tell he had matured.
“He was about 22 the last time he was with us, and you can tell when you talk to him even now he’s a bit of a character, and he’s got a bit of spunk about him.
“Back then he trained hard, played hard and partied hard, but I’ve always really liked him as a player.”
Koroisau lobbed in Sydney’s west a premiership winner after replacing the suspended Issac Luke in South Sydney’s grand final victory in 2014. It was Koroisau’s rookie year in the NRL.
The feisty rake said the early success had gone to his head but insisted he had matured into a family man with two young children.
“When I was here with him (Cleary) back in 2015 … I was a bit loose,” Koroisau said with a laugh.
“I was having a bit of fun back then. I was still 22 and I was coming off a good year with the Rabbitohs. I was enjoying myself a little bit too much.”
Season 2015 would turn out to be ill-fated for coach and player at Penrith.
Cleary was sacked and Koroisau was released from his contract to join the Manly Sea Eagles from 2016 on a three-year deal.
But the emergence of Manase Fainu on the northern beaches meant Koroisau was told to look for a new home this year. Fainu has since been stood down under the NRL’s no-fault stand-down policy and is facing charges in relation to an alleged stabbing of a man.
Koroisau, a local Canterbury junior, met with the Bulldogs in August last year and was all but ready to sign on the dotted line until Cleary reached out and asked for a meeting.
Over a cup of coffee in Cleary’s home, Koroisau decided to “turn” on his decision to return to Belmore.
“I was close to signing with the Dogs,” Koroisau said.
“I didn’t have a meeting with Ivan until two weeks after the Bulldogs one and that happened at the last minute. I met him at his house and had a coffee. It was just the way the meeting went. It was very different to any of the other meetings I had.
“One of his first questions was about what I was doing outside footy. It was refreshing for me. I’m used to having footy chats at those meetings — ‘we want you to do this, we want you to do that, you’d be an asset’.
“So it was nice to have something a bit different and that’s pretty much how I got turned this way to Penrith.”
Under Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler, Koroisau only averaged 44 minutes a game last year but played an average of 71 minutes under Trent Barrett in 2018 - who is now Cleary’s assistant at Penrith.
Cleary confirmed he intends on giving Koroisau more game time in season 2020.
“I think he’s got even more to give us. He’s got a unique style, he allows people time and space around him which is pretty much the job. He’ll play more game time for us than what he was down there (at Manly). So it will allow him to pace himself during a game and pick his moments,” Cleary said.