NRL 2021: Inside the tactical battle between Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary

The South Sydney-Penrith blockbuster is set to bring the kind of physical, mental and tactical battle usually saved for finals. How are the coaches handling it?

Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary.

Wayne Bennett insists he’s hiding nothing up his sleeve heading into Friday night’s South Sydney-Penrith blockbuster.

“You’ve been reading too many rugby league books,” the Rabbitohs coach said.

Panthers counterpart Ivan Cleary, well, he’ll simply answer “maybe’’ to the same question.

Watch The 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

With a final rematch likely, this clash is the kind of physical, mental and tactical battle we’re usually treated to in September.

The Daily Telegraph asked Bennett and Cleary a set of similar questions but got very different answers ahead of this blockbuster.

Souths coach Wayne Bennett has his team warming up nicely for the business end of the season. Picture: NRL Imagery

WAYNE BENNETT, RABBITOHS COACH

Q: Who is the favourite going into the game?

A: I don’t follow that [stuff], so I don’t care. It doesn’t worry me or have any influence on my thinking or the team’s behaviour and performances.

Q: Do you or the players feel any pressure going into this match?

A: They all came to training this morning, they we’re happy to be there. They didn’t want to stay in their beds and hope they weren’t playing tomorrow night.

Q: Both on 38 points, two behind Melbourne, it looks highly likely you’ll play each other in finals week one. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to play each other so close to the finals?

A: It’s not ideal but it’s still far enough away [from the finals]. I think the worst game is the last game of the season if you have to turn around the following week and play the same team you have just played. The team that loses that game has a huge advantage the following week. But that’s not happening here, we’ve got three weeks to go.

Q: Do you hold any cards up your sleeve for the finals?

A: No. You’ve been reading too many rugby league books. There’s nothing up our sleeve, believe me.

The Panthers belted the Rabbitohs in Dubbo in May. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Q: Ivan said he may hold some stuff back that he doesn’t want you guys seeing, do you think there is no advantage in that?

A: Look, Ivan coaches Penrith the way he coaches them. And I coach the way I coach. If that’s what he wants to do, if that’s what he is talking about doing, that’s fine. It’s not what we are doing.

Q: Does the 50-point loss earlier in the season give Rabbitohs something to prove?

A: No, I don’t think so. I don’t get that indication.

Q: Do you take a lot out of Friday night’s result?

A: We can’t afford not to take a fair bit out of it. We took a fair bit out of the last one they played. We’ll see how we go and have a look at what he failed in, what we did well and go from there. We won’t be before tomorrow night but we will hopefully be more competitive.

Q: How do you stop Nathan Cleary?

A: We don’t have any real plan for him. If he gets the ball our job is to tackle him. That’s the plan we’ve got.

MEDIA OPP TIME: 11 minutes: 30 seconds.

TOTAL QUESTIONS: 26

Penrith coach Ivan Ceary has the Panthers in great shape. Picture: NRL Imagery

IVAN CLEARY, PANTHERS COACH

Q: You’re the favourites going into this game. What can you take from previous clashes?

A: We’ve had a bit of success against the Rabbitohs over the past couple of years so we know how to beat them but knowing and doing it are two different things. It’s a really difficult proposition tomorrow night but we’re looking forward to it as well.

Q: Do you or the players feel any extra pressure going into this match?

A: We’re already fortified, our position is already set. We’ve been able to get to this point via consistently playing well all the way through the year and through the circumstances we’ll finish where we deserve. I don’t think there’s any extra pressure, there’s more excitement than anything — you can sense that in the boys this week. They look forward to these match up’s and that’s what it’s all about.

Q: Both on 38 points, two behind Melbourne, it looks highly likely you’ll play each other in finals week one. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to play each other so close to the finals?

A: It’s hard to know, there’s not much you can do about it. Every time you play this kind of match up, teams at the top of the table, you get to know a bit more about each other each time you play. A game of footy, there’s so many things that can happen and until that game is over you can’t really answer that. We’ll both know a little bit more about each other after tomorrow night but finals are a different kettle of fish. In the end, it’s good for both teams to be playing teams at the top of the table — it gives you a chance to harden yourself for what’s ahead.

Penrith warming up nicely for the finals. Picture: NRL Images

Q: Do you hold any cards up your sleeve for the finals?

A: Maybe.

Q: Does the 50-point loss earlier in the season give Rabbitohs something to prove?

A: They’re an extremely dangerous team and their form is definitely better than when we faced them down in Dubbo and we were probably in better form ourselves at that point. It’s one of the match-ups everyone looks forward to. We know how to do it. We just have to go out there and do it.

Q: How do you stop Cody Walker?

A: He’s just been tearing opposition edges to shreds. We understand the threat that’s coming and that’s just Cody, there’s plenty of other good players in their team as well. They’re an extremely dangerous team Souths and the first thing we need to organise is ourselves and make sure we play well and if we do that we’ll limit their opportunities. Sometimes that’s the best you can do against teams like this where you know good players are going to play well and we just need to limit the opportunities they get and cut down their time.

MEDIA OPP TIME: 12 minutes, 28 seconds

TOTAL QUESTIONS: 16 questions

Originally published as NRL 2021: Inside the tactical battle between Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary