WARRIORS CAREER
2005 – Warriors 11th
2006 (first Cleary year) – Warriors 10th (8th*)
- “Even before the penalty the Warriors were expected to struggle and were being picked as wooden spooners in some quarters” (Wiki)
- Deducted 4 points at the start of the year for prior salary cap breaches
- Won 12 games, would have finished 8th if not for previous season salary cap penalty
2007 (second Cleary year) – Warriors 4th (semi final)
- Second best regular season ever for the Warriors
- Lost by 2 points to Parramatta in week one and then thanks to McIntyre finals system, had to play away in Townsville where they crashed out
2008 (third Cleary year) – Warriors 8th (Grand Final Qualifier)
- Tough season with injuries, losingWade McKinnon for much of the year, losing captain for ten weeks, as well as injuries to other key playersManu Vatuvei,Jerome Ropati and Michael Witt
- Finished 8th and became the first 8th place team to beat 1st (defeated Storm in Melbourne)
- Then beat the Roosters
- Lost to eventual premiers Manly in preliminary final
2009 (fourth Cleary year) Warriors 14th
- Forgettable year that started with the death of Warriors player Sonny Fai. Never recovered from this
2010 (fifth Cleary year) – Warriors 5th (qualifying final)
- Returned to the finals again
- Similar to us in 2004, they finished 5th, lost to the 4th placed team and were knocked out week one under the McIntyre rules
2011 (sixth Cleary year) – Warriors 6th (GRAND FINAL)
- All 3 grades made the grand final, Warriors going down to Manly in the big one!
- NB the Warriors have not yet played finals football since Cleary left
- The Warriors played 4 final series in 6 years under Cleary (would have been 5/6 if not for a salary cap penalty before he took over) – they only made the finals in 3/14 seasons without him
PANTHERS CAREER
2011 – Panthers 12th
2012 (1st Cleary year) – Panthers 15th
- Year one of the “5 year plan”
- Panthers have farewelled seven regular members of their squad over the off-season, with captain Petero Civoniceva’s return home to Brisbane the most telling. Trent Waterhouse, Shane Elford, Timana Tahu and Matthew Bell also moved on
2013 (2nd Cleary year) – Panthers 10th
- Year two of the “5 year plan”
- This season played without Michael Jennings, Luke Lewis and Michael Gordon who all were released, and yet they improved
- Brought in Dean Whare, Lewis Brown, Jeremy Latimore, James Roberts, James Segeyaro and Sika Manu
2014 ( 3rd Cleary year) – Panthers 4th (Grand Final Qualifier)
- Year three of “5 year plan”
- Ivan Cleary Dally M Coach of the Year
- Rebirth of Soward, emergence of Moylan, Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
2015 (4th year Cleary) – Panthers 11th
- Penrith suffered the worst injury toll in the NRL this season, with (deep breath) Peter Wallace, Jamie Soward, Matt Moylan, Jamal Idris, Elijah Taylor, Bryce Cartwright, Brent Kite, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Isaac John, George Jennings and Robert Jennings all ending the season in the casualty ward. James Segeyaro, Dean Whare, Josh Mansour, and Nigel Plum all spent significant time on the sidelines as well. Remarkably, the Panthers were forced to use 11 different halves combinations during the season, finishing the year with hooker Apisai Koroisau and back-rower Tyrone Peachey in the playmaking roles. The disruptions meant the team never had the chance to build momentum and it took its toll over the course of the season.
- Emergence of Bryce Cartwright and Tyrone Peachey
- Recruited Trent Merrin
The thoughts of the great Sowie
“Jamie Soward has given new coach, Ivan Cleary a ringing endorsement, saying the Penrith boss reminds him of master coach, Wayne Bennett.
“The thing with Ivan is that he just makes it simple,” Soward said.
“Ask any of the players who have played under Wayne Bennett and they’ll tell you it’s very similar.”
“I think Ivan understood me straight off the bat”
CLUB CAREER
Ivan’s ability to put in good systems for bringing through juniors (bare in mind how badly our juniors system has failed since Browny left):
NSW Cup
2011 - Auckland runners up
2013 - Windsor runners up (Panthers)
2014 - Panthers premiers
U/20’s
2010 – Warriors premiers
2011 – Warriors premiers
2013 – Panthers premiers Warriors runners up
2015 – Panthers premiers
SUMMARY
In summary, with Ivan we would get
- An experienced coach (not a rookie learning on the job like Browny, Price, McGregor) with 10 years of first grade experience
- A coach from outside our system, who can look at our processes with from a fresh viewpoint
- A coach with a history of success in NRL, as well as NSW Cup and U/20’s (i.e. the whole organisation improves when he is at a club)
- A coach with well-regarded man management skills
- A coach who was Dally M Coach of the Year
- A coach who has ties to arguably the two most exciting young teams in the comp, who will eventually have to squeeze players out (and thus may be an attraction to those young stars)
- A coach whose son is the heir apparent to the NSW #7 in a few years
- A coach who has had a year out of the game to freshen up and get the hunger for success back (if it was ever gone) – he will have a point to prove.
2005 – Warriors 11th
2006 (first Cleary year) – Warriors 10th (8th*)
- “Even before the penalty the Warriors were expected to struggle and were being picked as wooden spooners in some quarters” (Wiki)
- Deducted 4 points at the start of the year for prior salary cap breaches
- Won 12 games, would have finished 8th if not for previous season salary cap penalty
2007 (second Cleary year) – Warriors 4th (semi final)
- Second best regular season ever for the Warriors
- Lost by 2 points to Parramatta in week one and then thanks to McIntyre finals system, had to play away in Townsville where they crashed out
2008 (third Cleary year) – Warriors 8th (Grand Final Qualifier)
- Tough season with injuries, losingWade McKinnon for much of the year, losing captain for ten weeks, as well as injuries to other key playersManu Vatuvei,Jerome Ropati and Michael Witt
- Finished 8th and became the first 8th place team to beat 1st (defeated Storm in Melbourne)
- Then beat the Roosters
- Lost to eventual premiers Manly in preliminary final
2009 (fourth Cleary year) Warriors 14th
- Forgettable year that started with the death of Warriors player Sonny Fai. Never recovered from this
2010 (fifth Cleary year) – Warriors 5th (qualifying final)
- Returned to the finals again
- Similar to us in 2004, they finished 5th, lost to the 4th placed team and were knocked out week one under the McIntyre rules
2011 (sixth Cleary year) – Warriors 6th (GRAND FINAL)
- All 3 grades made the grand final, Warriors going down to Manly in the big one!
- NB the Warriors have not yet played finals football since Cleary left
- The Warriors played 4 final series in 6 years under Cleary (would have been 5/6 if not for a salary cap penalty before he took over) – they only made the finals in 3/14 seasons without him
PANTHERS CAREER
2011 – Panthers 12th
2012 (1st Cleary year) – Panthers 15th
- Year one of the “5 year plan”
- Panthers have farewelled seven regular members of their squad over the off-season, with captain Petero Civoniceva’s return home to Brisbane the most telling. Trent Waterhouse, Shane Elford, Timana Tahu and Matthew Bell also moved on
2013 (2nd Cleary year) – Panthers 10th
- Year two of the “5 year plan”
- This season played without Michael Jennings, Luke Lewis and Michael Gordon who all were released, and yet they improved
- Brought in Dean Whare, Lewis Brown, Jeremy Latimore, James Roberts, James Segeyaro and Sika Manu
2014 ( 3rd Cleary year) – Panthers 4th (Grand Final Qualifier)
- Year three of “5 year plan”
- Ivan Cleary Dally M Coach of the Year
- Rebirth of Soward, emergence of Moylan, Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
2015 (4th year Cleary) – Panthers 11th
- Penrith suffered the worst injury toll in the NRL this season, with (deep breath) Peter Wallace, Jamie Soward, Matt Moylan, Jamal Idris, Elijah Taylor, Bryce Cartwright, Brent Kite, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Isaac John, George Jennings and Robert Jennings all ending the season in the casualty ward. James Segeyaro, Dean Whare, Josh Mansour, and Nigel Plum all spent significant time on the sidelines as well. Remarkably, the Panthers were forced to use 11 different halves combinations during the season, finishing the year with hooker Apisai Koroisau and back-rower Tyrone Peachey in the playmaking roles. The disruptions meant the team never had the chance to build momentum and it took its toll over the course of the season.
- Emergence of Bryce Cartwright and Tyrone Peachey
- Recruited Trent Merrin
The thoughts of the great Sowie
“Jamie Soward has given new coach, Ivan Cleary a ringing endorsement, saying the Penrith boss reminds him of master coach, Wayne Bennett.
“The thing with Ivan is that he just makes it simple,” Soward said.
“Ask any of the players who have played under Wayne Bennett and they’ll tell you it’s very similar.”
“I think Ivan understood me straight off the bat”
CLUB CAREER
Ivan’s ability to put in good systems for bringing through juniors (bare in mind how badly our juniors system has failed since Browny left):
NSW Cup
2011 - Auckland runners up
2013 - Windsor runners up (Panthers)
2014 - Panthers premiers
U/20’s
2010 – Warriors premiers
2011 – Warriors premiers
2013 – Panthers premiers Warriors runners up
2015 – Panthers premiers
SUMMARY
In summary, with Ivan we would get
- An experienced coach (not a rookie learning on the job like Browny, Price, McGregor) with 10 years of first grade experience
- A coach from outside our system, who can look at our processes with from a fresh viewpoint
- A coach with a history of success in NRL, as well as NSW Cup and U/20’s (i.e. the whole organisation improves when he is at a club)
- A coach with well-regarded man management skills
- A coach who was Dally M Coach of the Year
- A coach who has ties to arguably the two most exciting young teams in the comp, who will eventually have to squeeze players out (and thus may be an attraction to those young stars)
- A coach whose son is the heir apparent to the NSW #7 in a few years
- A coach who has had a year out of the game to freshen up and get the hunger for success back (if it was ever gone) – he will have a point to prove.
