{"id":279957,"date":"2025-11-12T17:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/279957\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:17:19","slug":"penrith-panthers-mentor-ivan-cleary-reveals-interest-in-representative-coaching-role-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/279957\/","title":{"rendered":"Penrith Panthers mentor Ivan Cleary reveals interest in representative coaching role"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI don\u2019t know, I definitely think about it more than I used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary, who has worked as a consultant for former NSW coach Brad Fittler at State of Origin level, said he wasn\u2019t sure whether he could juggle a representative and club job, but added: \u201cI\u2019m not saying no down the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

While premiership success eluded Cleary at the Panthers last season, youngest son Jett edged closer to an NRL debut after winning NSW Cup grand finals with the Warriors. Cleary said he looked forward to the prospect of Jett, who also represented Ukraine last month<\/a>, getting the call-up to first grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course that\u2019s the ultimate goal for anyone who plays,\u201d Cleary said during a chat in the Kia Showroom in Kingswood, where he joined Nathan in becoming an ambassador for the brand\u2019s Tasman ute.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it happens one day. And if it happens, I just hope there\u2019s some way I can be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the prospect of coaching against Jett, Cleary said: \u201cI did it twice against Nat. I didn\u2019t really like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife hated it more. And he beat us twice, too. If that\u2019s how it works out, that\u2019s how it works out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is that it works out for Jett.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jett<\/p>\n

Jett Cleary in action for the Warriors in their NRL State Championship grand final against the Burleigh Bears.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cleary said it would be a dream come true if the trio could all be at the same club at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say yes without really considering who falls where,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this before, one of the advantages of coaching Nathan is that he\u2019s an automatic selection each week. I think it\u2019d be a little harder if that wasn\u2019t the case. It would depend on other things, I suppose. It\u2019d be pretty cool though; it\u2019d be fun. I\u2019d love to see the boys play together one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps they could be in the halves together?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that would be brilliant,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cIf I was involved in that, that would be good, too. That would be something I\u2019d love to see one day. It could be for Ukraine!\u201d<\/p>\n

PNG will enter the NRL competition in 2028, just as Ivan and Nathan Cleary become free agents. Some pundits have called for the Pacific nation to make the Clearys an offer they can\u2019t refuse to ensure they are immediately competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never say no to anything,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cIt seems a fair way off at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Told that PNG is just 12 months away from setting up in earnest, Cleary said: \u201cYou know what, I\u2019m really excited about this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s probably a lot of questions about how that\u2019s all gonna work, but I\u2019ve been there a couple of times and just seeing the love and passion of those guys have for their footy, it\u2019s really exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven seeing the way they played recently, you can just imagine the inspiration coming out of that place at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a brave decision to put them in, but I think it\u2019s pretty exciting. It\u2019s the only place where rugby league\u2019s the national sport, so it seems right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Penrith<\/p>\n

Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary is an ambassador for KIA.<\/p>\n

Two leading footballing nurseries, Barker College in Hornsby and St Gregory\u2019s College, Campbelltown, participated in a hybrid clash<\/a> last month. Played under a mix of rugby union and league rules, it was the first exhibition of its kind in Australia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

Cleary believes the concept has merit and could help ward off the threat that Rugby 360 poses to rugby league.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think there\u2019s an opportunity for both codes to come together and put on some games of substance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think it\u2019s pretty cool for players of both codes to be able to come and have a foot in each camp. With the pool of talent, maybe there\u2019s a way we can actually coexist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean obviously you\u2019ve got the [Rugby] 360 thing sniffing around and if it\u2019s got the legs and the backing that it sounds like it\u2019s got, it might be better to team up with those people \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just has a sniff about it like Super League; the people involved don\u2019t tend to take no for an answer and [then there\u2019s] the sort of money they\u2019re talking. The reality is our sport has a ceiling to it. There\u2019s not a lot of sports like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the game grows, I\u2019m sure players are looking over the fence. [I was] just in the UK and you\u2019re surrounded by football and the money they make, you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary said a clash between the Kangaroos and All Blacks would have huge appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the players would be [keen],\u201d he said. \u201cYou look at Origin, right, if you can generate the Kangaroos playing the All Blacks, I think it would be fairly interesting.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sort of money [it would generate], I think the players would be interested in that. Both codes can benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sport\u2019s shown that it\u2019s certainly run by guys that are heavily influenced by business and money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he would like to coach the Kangaroos in such a clash, Cleary replied: \u201cYeah. I\u2019d need some guidance around rugby, though. That would be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary has copped some criticism for his performances during the Kangaroos tour, but Ivan said there were few opportunities for either team due to the slow ruck speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he did well,\u201d Cleary said of his son. \u201cI thought he tackled really well. I thought his defence with [Cameron] Munster was really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting combination I think, him and Munster, they go well together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his role was just to try to get him and the rest of the guys the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard for any of the halves really, obviously the English guys struggled a bit just because the rucks are so so slow that you don\u2019t really get any chance to get momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s all about winning and they won 3-0.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t know, I definitely think about it more than I used to.\u201d Cleary, who has worked as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-279957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}