NRL 2020: How Ivan Cleary convinced Api Koroisau to choose Panthers over Bulldogs
Even Api Koroisau thought he’d be playing at Canterbury this year … that is before a heart-to-heart chat at Ivan Cleary’s home changed the course of the 2020 NRL season, writes Paul Crawley.
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Canterbury fans won’t enjoy this.
But this is how close the Bulldogs came to signing Api Koroisau before Ivan Cleary snuck up from nowhere to ambush Canterbury late last year.
In the countdown to Sunday’s grand final, the NRL’s buy of the year has opened up about the sliding doors moment that changed the course of the entire 2020 NRL season.
And it happened at Cleary’s home last August, at about the same time everyone in the game was convinced Koroisau had agreed to terms with Canterbury.
Koroisau recalled how he had been told by Manly that he was free to find a new home because of the emergence of Manase Fainu. And he had even met with former Bulldogs coach Dean Pay to talk about his future.
But that was before he got a call from his manager telling him Ivan also wanted a meeting about a potential return to the club that had let him go in 2015.
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The two ended up having a heart-to-heart chat at Cleary’s home.
And when all was said and done, Koroisau says he walked away knowing his heart was set on a return to the foot of the mountains.
“I thought I was going to the Dogs,” Koroisau recalled.
“I’d had a meeting with Deano and Mark Hughes.
“It wasn’t until the last minute Penrith cropped up.
“My manager rang me and just told me they wanted to have a chat.
“I had a game coming up so I had to put it off a few days.
“But I ended up talking with Ivan.
“I just went to his house and just chewed the fat.
“It was more just about life rather than footy.
“It would have been 90 per cent about what has been happening and just overall life things and maybe 10 per cent footy.
“It was actually refreshing.”
And as it turned out it was a meeting that had far reaching implications across the competition.
While injury-ravaged Manly struggled all season after also losing Fainu to his suspension, you just have to look at the impact Koroisau had on Penrith to realise how significant his signing could have also been for Canterbury.
And of course for Pay, who ultimately lost his job to make way for Trent Barrett to take over next year.
Not only that, it wasn’t long after that Cleary also told Wayde Egan that the club was signing Koroisau, so Egan ended up going to the Warriors.
And while Nathan Cleary deserves all the credit he gets for being one of the competition’s standout performers this season, Nathan doesn’t hide from the fact having Koroisau has made his life so much easier.
“It is crazy looking back on it like that,” Nathan said about Koroisau almost going to the Dogs.
“I am so grateful he signed here.
“I am not too sure we would be in the position we are at the moment if he didn’t.
“He has been unbelievable.
“I obviously can’t speak highly enough of Api.
“He has been a massive part of the team and a massive help to me too.”
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Koroisau was outstanding again in the preliminary final win over South Sydney.
And said the shoulder injury that forced him off the field “was just a stinger” and would not be an issue this weekend.
As for the one-on-one showdown with his rival hooker in what is likely to be Cam Smith’s final NRL game, Koroisau added: “I am looking forward to it.
“There is no point being intimidated.
“He is the best player that has ever played in the number nine and maybe in the game.
“But at the same time you have to aim up in those situations.
“And you have to really enjoy these challenges.
“You want to be as good as you can so you have to go up against the best there is.
“I love playing against good hookers and I love challenging myself.”
Originally published as NRL 2020: How Ivan Cleary convinced Api Koroisau to choose Panthers over Bulldogs