Ivan channels Trump, Nathan as Happy Gilmore in Panthers’ pre-season party

With his team bathing in the afterglow of four-straight NRL premierships, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary came up with the idea of hosting a US-themed party prior to their trip to Las Vegas.

Ivan Cleary has taken to hosting a party in the off-season for the Penrith players and their partners. Each year, there is a different theme.

This year, with Las Vegas in mind, the theme was America.

Cleary, as the host, dressed as Donald Trump. We tried to get hold of the images but had no luck. All reports were that Cleary pulled off a handy impersonation.

Not quite Alec Baldwin, but not bad. Nathan Cleary donned a Happy Gilmore outfit in homage to his favourite movie. Lindsay Smith was Larry Bird.

Liam Martin, Dylan Edwards and Isaah Yeo were the American swim team. Their partners dressed as the gymnastics team.

When you’re the best team in the league and have been for four years, you can afford to have some fun. Ivan Cleary, according to those know him best, appreciates the importance of a good time as much as anyone.

He understands that letting your hair down isn’t a bad thing, particularly when you’re bathing in the afterglow of a premiership that cemented your status as the greatest dynasty of the modern era.

So Penrith’s players and their better halves had some fun before they stepped up their preparations for their title defence, which begins in earnest in just over a week in Las Vegas.

“It is a thing he has done every year to get to know all the partners in a bit more relaxed atmosphere,” back rower Liam Martin said.

Art by Scott 'Boo' Bailey.

The other connection the Panthers needed to make over the off-season was with their new home ground. Penrith will spend the next two years at CommBank Stadium while their fortress is being knocked down and rebuilt.

On the last day of their pre-season camp, the Panthers went for a long run that ended at their new home.

They were greeted by former player Glenn Liddiard, who performed a smoking ceremony. When that was over, they wandered into the ground, took off their shoes, found a blade of grass, closed their eyes and pictured life at their new home.

“Yeah, that was like the ending of our pre-season camp,” Nathan Cleary said.

“We did a big run, had a tough day, and then finished it at CommBank and just sort of went in and got familiar with the place.

Nathan Cleary earthing at CommBank Stadium. Picture: Instagram

“We actually started off with a smoke ceremony run by Glenn Liddiard just to sort of, I guess welcome us to that land and our new home for this year.

“Then we went out into the field and earthing and all that.”

Costume parties, smoking ceremonies and earthing experiences may not seem all that important, but the little things add up over the course of a season.

You can’t do what Penrith have done in recent years without nailing those little things.

It starts with the pre-season and Penrith have become the masters of it, building not just fitness but a team chemistry that carries them for the rest of the year.

The old saying is that premierships aren’t won in the months of January and February, but they can certainly be lost during that time.

Get the chemistry wrong, or fracture relationships, and it makes for a long year.

You need to get it right from the start.

For Penrith, this off-season was as important as any in recent memory after they lost two of the most influential players in their recent history.

James Fisher-Harris and Jarome Luai were immense and influential figures in the Panthers’ dressing room. They helped set the tone on and off the field.

The Panthers have been stripped of players before but Luai and Fisher-Harris represent a seismic shift in their roster.

It added another dimension to this off-season for Penrith as they attempted to fill the void. Blaize Talagi and Isaiah Papali’i will help but they can’t be expected to waltz in and replace two superstars who have been at the heart of the club’s dominance.

Ivan Cleary has his work cut out for him to make it five in a row. It helps that his son and halfback is the best player in the game, but even he needs his support cast to stand up.

In the words of Donald Trump, it’s going to be yuge.

*****

Souths coach Wayne Bennett. Picture: Scott Gardiner/Getty Images

A penny for Wayne Bennett’s thoughts after the week from hell at South Sydney.

Surely this wasn’t how he envisaged his return to the Rabbitohs, scrambling to replace two of his biggest names with the season looming large on the horizon.

Bennett was hailed as the saviour by Rabbitohs fans, but even the greatest coach in the game’s history may struggle to revive their fortunes after losing captain Cameron Murray and fullback Latrell Mitchell in the space of a few minutes, the former potentially for the season.

Bennett was already facing an onerous task. The Rabbitohs had a difficult draw to start the season, which only becomes harder given they have been shorn of two superstars.

The bookies reacted immediately. The Rabbitohs odds drifted. They have been written off by many, but this columnist isn’t ready to put a line through them just yet.

Murray is a blow. A huge one. He is South Sydney’s heart and soul.

Mitchell, however, will be back and as long as Souths can keep it together until he returns, the top eight is still within the realms of possibility.

Then, if Mitchell catches fire in September, the Rabbitohs have the potential to cause plenty of carnage. Souths and Bennett need everything to go right from here but you don’t win seven premierships without knowing how to navigate disasters like this.

It’s been 15 years since the last of those seven premierships – with St George Illawarra in 2010 – and no shortage of people will tell you the chances of that title drought coming to an end dramatically lengthened this week.

Bennett, though, is still the master. Write him off at your peril.

Originally published as Ivan channels Trump, Nathan as Happy Gilmore in Panthers’ pre-season party