What dreams are made of: Cleary's Panthers vision becomes a reality
By
Christian Nicolussi
15 December 2018 — 2:25pm
Ivan Cleary channelled Martin Luther King on a warm Saturday afternoon when he said a dream seven years in the making at Penrith had finally become a reality.
While one of the immediate benefits of returning to the foot of the mountains was to work with his star son Nathan, Cleary said it was impossible to ignore how much the club and players had matured since his first stint in charge.
As Cleary best put it: "The vision we had seven years ago is now coming to life.''
"The club has matured a lot over the last seven years, it's a different club to the one I left, just through the maturity factor. There's more confidence and belief,'' Cleary said.
"Most of the NRL boys have come through this system, they're maturing as players and people and maturing together, which helps the whole feeling of the club.
"The Panthers are more of a presence than we were.
"At the start it was a complete rebuild. We were training on this goat track out the back [of Panthers' Leagues Club].
"We'd talk about our vision and what it would be like. I felt it as a spectator, and because Nathan been playing I've been potentially a fan and at home games you can feel it.
"One of the big visions was to have the bulk of the NRL squad developed through our system.
"At the start it was around 20 per cent, now it's up around 80 per cent.
"When I was here guys like Waqa Blake, Isaah Yeo, Dallin [Watene-Zelezniak], Josh Mansour, Sione Katoa, they debuted, then along came Nathan, Dylan Edwards, Tyrone May, Jarome Luai, the list goes on.
"We'll be much more of a force in the future.
"To get a premiership you need to finish in the top four, and to get into the top four you need to do 'X, Y and Z'.
"I feel confident we'll give every team a shake. The talent is there, the culture is strong, the effort has been good. We just need to realise that potential and execute well, and anybody who has watched this team the last few years will know there's still work to do there.''
The Panthers have promised so much the past two seasons with their dream young roster, and those players will be better again as they enter the 2019 NRL race $11 chances with the bookies.
Cleary said his working relationship with club football boss Phil Gould, who sacked him the first time around, had not been an issue.
"He does his role and I do mine,'' said Cleary, whose scheduled press conference was delayed an hour so he could pose for photos with gushing fans.
"He's not involved with the coaching side of it or any on-field stuff. But I do talk a lot of footy with him. Why wouldn't you?''
While James Maloney underwent neck surgery and will resume full contact training in the new year, halves partner Nathan Cleary is now out of a moonboot and will ramp up his own preparations in mid-January.
Tyrone Peachey is a huge loss for the mountain men, and even though Cleary knows the Gold Coast Titan is impossible to replace, there are several options who can cover various roles.
"Peach was such a natural footy player, but we've got a couple of guys who can play different positions,'' Cleary said.
"Tyrone May is training really well and can play pretty much any position. He plays differently to Peach, but he's still a natural footy player. Jarome Luai is the same and has the potential to change the nature of a game.
"I'm not saying we can replace Peach, but our squad is well-balanced.''
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/wh...vision-becomes-a-reality-20181215-p50mh0.html
