Wests Tigers readying for courtroom brawl with Penrith Panthers regarding coach Ivan Cleary
WESTS Tigers are readying for a courtroom brawl with Penrith as the fallout of the Panthers’ secret raid of Tigers coach Ivan Cleary is set to turn bitter between the neighbouring clubs.
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WESTS Tigers are readying for a courtroom brawl with Penrith as the fallout of the Panthers’ secret raid of coach Ivan Cleary turns nasty.
The Daily Telegraph has learnt the Tigers are exploring their legal options if Penrith are found to have induced Cleary to break his contract at his current club.
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Tigers chair Marina Go has openly said the club had no intentions of releasing Cleary from the remaining two years of his contract and that Cleary was yet to seek a release.
Leading sports lawyer Tim Fuller, who has more than a decade of legal experience and played first grade for South Sydney and the Gold Coast in the 1990s, said the Tigers “have a strong case”.
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“It falls into an area of tort — the tort of inducing breach of contract,” Fuller said. “An important element is intent. If it went to court, the court would look at whether Penrith intended for Ivan to breach his contract.
“Now from what we are hearing that Panthers and Ivan have been in secret talks for weeks and then Anthony Griffin is sacked.
“Clearly, there has been an intention from Penrith to induce the breach of contract if Ivan leaves the Tigers.
“I think Penrith have miscalculated on this one and not considered the legal ramifications.”
The Tigers were left in the dark about the Panthers’ inquiries regarding their head coach, which are alleged to have happened about two weeks ago with a senior Penrith official.
The Tigers only learnt of the move following Griffin’s shock sacking on Monday afternoon which then heavily linked Cleary to a return to the club which axed him at the end of 2015.
It was then chief executive Justin Pascoe was informed of Penrith’s advances, before Pascoe told the Tigers board. It is understood Go spoke with Cleary on Monday night where he did not give an indication that he wanted out of the club he has been entrusted to rebuild.
Unlike players, the NRL does not have any rules in place to halt teams from approaching contracted coaches. If Cleary seeks a release, he will likely do so on compassionate grounds in a bid to link up with son Nathan.
This has left Tigers officials bemused with Cleary given full control of the club’s playing list. Discussions between Tigers management and Cleary surrounding his son have been simple; they have told him if he feels like Nathan is the best option for the club then he can do whatever he thinks it would take to bring him to the club once his contract expires at Penrith at the end of next year.
Cleary’s appointment at the Tigers midway through last year has given the club the stability it has craved since Tim Sheens’ departure at the end of 2012.
Since then, the Tigers have had four coaches in just six years, and are reluctant to be on the lookout for another.
Cleary was entrusted with reshaping the club’s roster after Jason Taylor was axed. He has had moderate success this year with the Tigers still a slim chance of finishing inside the top eight.
Meanwhile, the Panthers got on with life post-Griffin yesterday, attending a screening of retired Kangaroos prop Jason Stevens’ new movie Chasing Comets at Hoyts Penrith.