Ivan Cleary conflicted by the challenge of containing his star son as the rival coach
IVAN Cleary concedes he will feel “conflicted” when the Wests Tigers attempt to shut down his son Nathan, who makes his anticipated return from a knee injury at Penrith.
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IVAN Cleary concedes he will feel “conflicted” when the Wests Tigers attempt to shut down his son Nathan, who makes his anticipated return from a knee injury in Thursday’s blockbuster at Penrith.
Cleary senior and junior still live together, but they’ll put family allegiances aside to chase victory.
Competitiveness aside, Ivan admitted it’s a conundrum facing your son as a coach and dad.
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“As a father, it is definitely conflicting — there is no way around that,” Cleary said.
“But it is what it is. It is a bit of professional integrity I guess and we’ve both got jobs to do.
“But I don’t deliberately go out and target anyone.
“The players are smart and they understand there are certain players they need to pressure at different times, but I don’t need to say too much about that.”
Cleary joked he’d prefer if Nathan had an extra week off, but said he was happy to see him back after seven weeks on the sideline.
Despite an extended lay-off, he has no doubts the Panthers playmaker will hit the ground running.
“They (Penrith) know what they are doing out there and they wouldn’t put him out there if he wasn’t ready to go,” he said.
“Having said that it has been a long injury and it takes a bit of time to get things going.
“But he’ll click into gear pretty reasonably.”
Cleary’s Tigers will take on a Penrith side missing skipper Peter Wallace, who has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.
Wallace had been carrying the shoulder for a number of weeks and aggravated it during last week’s win over Newcastle.
Rising forward Sione Katoa shifts to No. 9, while rookie rake Wayde Egan has been elevated to the bench.
Five-eighth James Maloney will return from baby watch duties to captain the Panthers in the absence of Wallace.
Maloney’s wife Jess gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, a baby boy Jesse Craig, on Tuesday afternoon.
The former Sharks and Roosters playmaker missed training on Monday night, but returned for Penrith’s captain’s run.
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin confirmed Wallace’s shoulder would sideline him for at least a fortnight.
“He’s got a tendon problem in his shoulder,” Griffin said.
“It wasn’t too bad but it flared up after the game. We had some scans on him on Saturday and the medical staff have said a couple of weeks to settle it down.”
Wallace’s injury adds to a long list of players sidelined for Penrith.
Fullback Dylan Edwards is out for the season with a shoulder, while Josh Mansour, Waqa Blake, and Moses Leota are also in the casualty ward.
Despite this horror run, the Panthers sit in second position after 11 rounds.
Griffin praised his players’ ability to defy the odds and consistently perform at a high level.
“I wouldn’t say surprised, I’m pleased,” he said.
“You find out a lot about your club and your team when you’re faced with a few challenges, and we’ve met those challenges.
“We’ve shown a good resilience as a group. We’ve had five debutants this year and every time we’ve given someone an opportunity, they’ve taken it. “We’ve still got a real battle on our hands going forward but at the moment, we’ve been going okay.”