Ivan Cleary’s greatest challenge yet: Penrith coach on horror 2025 season start, relying on the past, 2024 grand final glory

Open, honest and fixated on arresting Penrith’s worst start to a season since 2019, Ivan Cleary gives an exclusive insight into the biggest challenge of his Panthers tenure, admitting for the first time his team may be guilty of relying on their past.

Ivan Cleary has declared he is in the midst of his greatest challenge as the coach of Penrith, conceding for the first time his team may be guilty of relying on their celebrated past.

Open, honest and fixated on arresting the Panthers’ worst start to a season since 2019, the four-time premiers face the Cowboys at CommBank Stadium on Friday night having conceded an uncharacteristic 29.5-points per-game to begin their 2025 campaign.

In an unfamiliar position, the champions sit 13th on the NRL ladder and are aiming to bounce back after being beaten by the Roosters, Storm and Rabbitohs over the past three weeks.

They will be buoyed by the return of star playmaker Nathan Cleary against the Cowboys, but are still without fullback Dylan Edwards (quad) and winger Brian To’o (hamstring).

“We’ve got to find something different. That’s definitely challenging, but that’s what it’s all about,’’ Cleary said.

“We are a new team. We are in a new situation and we’ve just got to work through it.

Ivan Cleary was open and honest about his most challenging period as Penrith coach.Picture: Richard Dobson

“That’s my job as the leader to get us through that.

“When you’re winning it’s a fight, but this period is looking like something a lot different that I’ve faced before.

“Then again, it was only five years ago we were worse than this.

“The thing is, the team is a reflection of the coach and you’ve got to find a way and that’s not always easy because there’s so many moving parts.

“I’ll say this, I’m looking forward to it.’’

Cleary, a coach that is acutely in-tune with the mood of his playing group and who places immense trust and faith in his leaders, suggested for the first time that the most dominant team of the past five years may have begun the season with a feeling that it would all just simply click again in 2025.

“It’s not a really good sample space yet, four games and one was in Las Vegas and they’ve (matches) all been different,’’ Cleary said.

“But the way we spiralled, you can only go on and what you see, and I feel like it’s a bit dangerous for us to be talking about what we’ve been.

Injured stars Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary watch on. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“It’s good to be able to use those references to some extent, but maybe there’s a tipping point somewhere, that maybe we’re a bit anxious.

“Because the fact is, we are a different team.

“We’ve managed all this before, not to say we can’t, there’s definitely something at the moment where we need to settle down a bit.

“The spirit is there, we’re the ones throwing the punches right until the end.’’

The Cleary clan after grand final victory in 2024. Picture: NRL Photos

The irony of Cleary sensing reminiscence from the Panthers incredible success has emerged ahead of the re-release of his book, “Not Everything Counts, But Everything Matters.”

The hugely popular delve into Cleary’s leadership qualities was released in October last year, the timing of which didn’t allow publishers to include the Panthers dominant grand final win over the Storm.

Cleary has added the grand final chapter “Mana’’, where he reveals how the Polynesian word, which translates to status, prestige and power, was the catalyst to the Panthers victorious 2024 campaign after former forward leader and Kiwi Test star James Fisher-Harris explained what it meant at training on the eve of the finals.

“In the last five minutes of the grand final, holding an eight-point lead, the boys were screaming it in unison – ‘Mana! Mana! Mana!’ – to stay in the moment as we tackled our way to victory,’’ Cleary writes in the newly included chapter.

Jarome Luai, Sunia Turuva and James Fisher-Harris all departed Penrith after last year’s premiership.Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Focused on the present, Cleary spoke of trying to balance his side’s trust in being able to draw on the incredible success they’ve experienced in the past yet not relying on it to repeat itself this year.

“It’s probably something that we’re trying to manage and learn, where we’ve got a new team and we might be a little bit too reminiscent of what we’ve done, rather than what we are,’’ Cleary said.

“It is a challenge in that sense for sure.

“You can definitely use the past, but it’s a balance between getting lost in it as well.

“It’s probably a little challenge we have right now.

“There’s only 11 guys that have been part of the four premierships and seven of those have played in all five grand finals.

“From a squad of 36, that’s not many (remaining).

“You have to take that into account. It’s a lot of responsibility on the guys that have been there (across the five years).

“You have to be careful of the toll of five grand finals, the length of those seasons, plus those that played Origin as well and then rep footy at the end of the year, its thin ice in many respects.’’

Jarome Luai leading celebrations in the change room. Picture NRL Photos

In reflecting on the Panthers 2024 premiership, Cleary made note of an extra ingredient that propelled the team to create lasting memories for departing players Jarome Luai (Wests Tigers), Sunia Turuva (Wests Tigers) and Fisher-Harris (Warriors) - a motivational farewell factor that Penrith don’t have in their back pocket this year.

“Last year we had some downs, we dropped some games we shouldn’t have, but we’d always come up with something when we needed it,’’ Cleary said.

“There was also a very strong motivation with Jarome, Fish (Fisher-Harris), Tio (Turuva) leaving, that was a really powerful thing.

“It galvanised the team.

Can Ivan Cleary bring Penrith to the top of the mountain again? Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“With Nathan missing it really added a string to Jarome’s bow and that became quite critical in our season, where he really stepped up.

“And Fish was equally as powerful.

“We’ve been able to use those guys leaving to really push us home.

“Because every year it’s almost to a man, they’ve had their best year. Jarome, Fish, Critta (Stephen Crichton), Spencer (Leniu), Api (Koroisau) and Kiks (Viliame Kikau).

“It shows how much it means to them and the rest of the boys as well.

“That’s a real highlight in our run, just the connection of the players.

“It’s not just good players, but good mates and how much they love playing with each other.’’