{"id":497582,"date":"2026-02-22T22:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497582\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T22:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:19:10","slug":"nrl-daily-ivan-cleary-to-png-chiefs-nathan-cleary-panthers-tyrone-may-wests-tigers-may-brothers-chad-townsend-wooden-spoon-manly-sea-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497582\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL Daily, Ivan Cleary to PNG Chiefs, Nathan Cleary, Panthers, Tyrone May, Wests Tigers, May Brothers, Chad Townsend, Wooden Spoon, Manly Sea Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following reports that he was the dream target to coach the PNG Chiefs, Penrith Panthers coach and four-time premiership winner Ivan Cleary has reportedly made a decision on the reported move.<\/p>\n

After being sounded out by the NRL\u2019s 19th team to gauge his interest, The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>reports that Cleary has told those close to him that he will not coach the PNG Chiefs as they prepare to enter the competition in 2028.<\/p>\n

Cleary’s decision means the Chiefs will turn their attention to other candidates.<\/p>\n

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Super League coaches Adrian Lam (Leigh Leopards), Jason Demetriou (London Broncos) and Willie Peters (Hull KR) have all emerged as potential options and have expressed interest over the past few months.<\/p>\n

Panthers to fight Cleary ban | 00:32<\/p>\n

The decision from Cleary to knock back the move also means that son and champion halfback Nathan Cleary will also not make the switch to the PNG Chiefs as he prepares to make a decision over his future in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I love where I\u2019m at right now; to me, I haven\u2019t really thought too much about my future because I still have two years to run on my contract,\u201d Nathan told the publication two weeks ago.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI understand people will start to talk about it, but it\u2019s not in my mind at all \u2013 it still seems so far away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Cleary\u2019s are off-contract at the end of 2027.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

MAY KEEN ON FAMILY REUNION<\/p>\n

One-time premiership-winner Tyrone May has confirmed that he is interested in making a return to the NRL in the future and reuniting with his brother Terrell and Taylan at the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

Formerly with the Penrith Panthers, the 29-year-old has been plying his trade in the Super League for the past five seasons but has continually been linked with a return down under.<\/p>\n

Defeating the Broncos on Friday, a potential return would see him add to the 56 first-grade matches he played with the Penrith Panthers between 2017 and 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be that temptation to play with my brothers,\u201d May told Code Sports<\/a>after winning the 2026 World Club Challenge with Hull KR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that we\u2019ve spoken about, we\u2019ve dreamt of doing since we started walking, really. Every time contract time comes up, there will always be that chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all fall off-contract at the same time, but that\u2019s not till the end of 2027. We\u2019ll cross that bridge when it comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have the opportunity to go back home and play with my brothers last year, but I turned it down because I thought that this was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hull KR get lucky with opening try | 01:01<\/p>\n

Contracted with Hull KR until the end of 2027, the utility playmaker revealed that he turned down a move to join the Wests Tigers last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the opportunity to go back home and play with my brothers last year. But I\u2019m glad I made the decision to stay here and achieve what we\u2019ve achieved,\u201d May added<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the main reason I wanted to stay. I could see the club going in a trajectory that I wanted to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

He decided to turn down a move last year.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

TOWNSEND BACKS MANLY FOR WOODEN SPOON<\/p>\n

Recently retired NRL halfback Chad Townsend has predicted that the Manly Sea Eagles will finish in last place this season following the departure of long-term halfback Daly Cherry-Evans.<\/p>\n

Entering this year\u2019s campaign with the new halves combination of Luke Brooks and Jamal Fogarty, the Sea Eagles are under extreme pressure to make the finals series and will enter Round 1 after a disappointing loss to the Rabbitohs.<\/p>\n

While they do have several stars on their books, such as Haumole Olaka\u2019atu, Tom Trbojevic and Jake Trbojevic, the lack of depth in their squad has emerged as a key issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone with the Sea Eagles for wooden spoon for 2026,\u201d the 2016 premiership winner said on his YouTube Channel.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeff\u201cIt\u2019s a massive year for Anthony Seibold on the Northern Beaches. With what\u2019s happened over the course of the last 12 months – no Cherry-Evans, Tommy Trbojevic handshake deal. Jake Trbojevic is off-contract – I can see them having a tough year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve just signed Jamal Fogarty. He comes in on a three-year deal. I do like Jamal Fogarty, I do believe he can add something to this Sea Eagles team, but it\u2019s a bit of the depth that concerns me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side of the ladder, Townsend has backed the Sydney Roosters to finish in first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got the Roosters coming in at first position. (They) just look so solid, you look at their team on paper…they\u2019re oozing talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Manly half Jamal FogartySource: Facebook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following reports that he was the dream target to coach the PNG Chiefs, Penrith Panthers coach and four-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-497582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497582","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=497582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}