Precious Panthers: Cough up and shut up

Penrith chairman Dave O’Neill is getting precious by blaming Ivan Cleary’s press conference remarks on the existence of the press conference.

Panthers coach Nathan Cleary does not do heat-of-the-moment answers Picture: Nathan Hopkins / NRL Photos

Penrith chairman Dave O’Neill has come up with a first. To blame Ivan Cleary’s accusation of referee bias during a press conference, on the existence of the press conference itself, is unprecedented, contradictory and precious.

If Cleary and O’Neill had more time to collect their thoughts after the game against Canberra, they could have used it to get their stories straight.

Because their responses are incompatible. O’Neill says Cleary said the wrong thing because the press conference was in “the heat of the moment.” And yet Cleary maintains he said nothing wrong, fighting the $20,000 fine. Which one is it? Because it cannot be both. If O’Neill is right, then Cleary is guilty and the club needs to cough up and shut up. If Cleary is innocent – if saying the Raiders were “managed back in the game” doesn’t directly question the integrity of referee Gerard Sutton – then O’Neill is speaking total gibberish. I suggest the latter.

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Ivan Cleary is a grown man of 49 years of age. He played his first NRL match in 1992. He’s been a coach since 2006. Post-match Q and As are hardly a novelty to him. He knows the drill. You get asked about turning points, individual performances, form, injuries, controversial decisions. He knows that suggesting a referee has “managed a game” has trouble written all over it. He wasn’t led into it. He wasn’t badgered. He didn’t have words placed in his mouth.

He wasn’t asked, ‘Hey, Ivan! Do you reckon Canberra was managed back in the game?’ They were his words. Instead of having a sook about Cleary doing the millionth press conference of his life, for the benefit of fans who want to know the coach’s reaction to every match, and who get to watch press conferences on the club’s website not long after it’s finished, O’Neill could have done better than bleating, ban the press conferences!

Cleary is the most bland coach in the NRL. When he blew condescending kisses to Wests Tigers fans a few weeks ago, the same fans he urged to get on the Tigers bus before he jumped off it himself, singing see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya, it was remarkable for the fact he had done something interesting.

His vocal range in interviews goes from monotone to monotone. He rarely says anything noteworthy. He’s prickly and defensive in trying situations, but that’s OK. Who isn’t? He’s at the Panthers to win a comp, not do stand-up comedy. He’s doing a glorious job.

His post-match discussion went for seven minutes and 13 seconds. He was not hurried. He was not flustered. He was uncomfortable, but that’s his normal vibe.

The Panthers had won 28-12 after a flawless first half that gave them a 24-0 lead. The Raiders recovered, slightly, with fortuitous calls. Cleary spent a few minutes being asked about the positives. He took his time over his answers. Because he could. He grinned here and there. He said the Panthers were enjoying each week, enjoying training, enjoying each other’s company. I thought he might leap onto the table and break into Ronan Keating’s Lovin’ Each Day, but no. Point being, he was hardly receiving a grilling from Leigh Sales.

From the floor: “There were a couple of dodgy calls in that second half. Your thoughts there?”

From Cleary: “Yeah. I agree. Um. Yeah. I don’t know, it felt like they were being managed back in the game so, I don’t know. That’s all I can say. Some really, really strange calls.”

It was that simple. An observation from a reporter. Dodgy calls doesn’t necessarily mean biased. It means wrong, but doesn’t infer cheating. Cleary was asked for his thoughts. He could just have easily said, I disagree! He could have agreed they were dodgy in the sense of being confusing or blatantly incorrect. He could have made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t questioning the referee’s integrity.

How could he do that? By saying, “I’m not questioning the referee’s integrity.” It’s not that hard. But then O’Neill played the victim. Not our fault! Press conferences are the problem! Don’t have them after matches! Give it 24 hours! Ridiculous. Heat of the moment? Rubbish. Watch the interview yourself. It’s on the club’s website. There was no heat in no moment.

Cleary might admit he chose his words wrongly. That would be understandable. But for O’Neill to call for the ditching of the process was laughable. It’s like wanting to ban beer because you’ve got a hangover.

Cleary had time to take a breath. It’s the players who do radio and television interviews while they’re still on the field. AFL coaches do halftime television interviews, let alone fulltime ones. Rafael Nadal plays a five-hour match at the Australian Open, and cannot even get off the court before Jim Courier is pummelling him with questions.

Olympians do interviews the very minute they walk off a track or get out of a pool. BBL players do interviews during a game! Why? For the fans. for the engagement of the public. Sport revolves around passion and the sooner the audience hears from athletes and coaches, the more genuine they are going to be. The media are the messengers. Diddums to O’Neill. He’s painted the Panthers and Cleary in a pretentious light.

The AFL’s Damien Hardwick and Alastair Clarkson have regretted post-match comments this year. Hardwick has telephoned Swans coach John Longmire to apologise for criticising him. Clarkson has said his claim of Tom Papley milking penalties has been in the spur of the moment. Neither has cried about not wanting to speak any more. Long live the post-match press conference.

Where Serena Williams can react to the suggestion she’s acted like a cow by saying, “Moo.” They all have the microphone; it’s up to them what they do with it. Next round Cleary can do a Darius Boyd, who gave glib one-word sentence answers for 42 seconds before a journalist said, “You fair dinkum? Waste of time, mate.”

Or he can do a Marshawn Lynch. He can put on some rock-star sunglasses and a large Panthers cap and say what Lynch has said to every question before the 2015 Super Bowl: “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”

Can you get fined for that?