{"id":820316,"date":"2026-07-24T06:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820316\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:45:15","slug":"penrith-panthers-dynasty-why-keeping-players-on-the-paddock-is-the-secret-to-ivan-clearys-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820316\/","title":{"rendered":"Penrith Panthers dynasty: Why keeping players on the paddock is the secret to Ivan Cleary\u2019s success"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DanSave<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

The single most decisive factor in building an NRL dynasty?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s right up there alongside club culture, a factory line of rugby league talent, meticulous roster management and a couple of Clearys.<\/p>\n

\"ThingsThings are looking good for the Panthers. Again.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping your players on the paddock,\u201d four-time premiership-winning Penrith coach Ivan Cleary<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

\u201cManaging their bodies and workloads \u2013 honestly, I can tell you that so much of the decision-making I make, the day-to-day decisions, it\u2019s all revolving around keeping players fit and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is arguably the most instructive lens through which to view Penrith\u2019s premiership chances, and how their current form line compares to those in each of their 2021-24 title-winning campaigns and last season\u2019s outlier (where they still made a preliminary final).<\/p>\n

The Panthers\u2019 form of late \u2013 including Thursday\u2019s gritty win over Parramatta with two sin-bins<\/a> \u2013 has been several shades short of perfection. But the bookmakers still have them pegged as prohibitive premiership favourites.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Only the brave and the stupid are putting their money anywhere else. The Panthers\u2019 recent run of mixed form has been viewed far and wide as little more than an Origin period wobble.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, throughout the most dominant first five months of an NRL season since the same team\u2019s efforts in 2022, the Panthers\u2019 playing squad has remained in remarkably good health.<\/p>\n

Aside from Dylan Edwards being ruled out this week by a shoulder injury, Mitch Kenny is their only regular first-grader stuck on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Liam Martin (knee \u2013 six weeks), Casey McLean (quad \u2013 four weeks) and Liam Henry (hamstring \u2013 eight weeks) have missed chunks of the season. And that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Penrith\u2019s injury toll amounts to a combined total of just 34 weeks spent on the sidelines, according to the figures diligently kept by Brien Seeney NRL Physio and independent statistician Rowan Waight.<\/p>\n

Not only is that number the lowest in the NRL by a staggering 25 weeks, it\u2019s less than a quarter of the combined time Parramatta\u2019s NRL squad has spent on the sidelines (142 weeks), and a third of the injury tolls weathered by Melbourne (124 weeks) and Souths (122 weeks) \u2013 and as good as in comparison to the Broncos, Warriors and Wests Tigers (104 weeks).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s luck involved, for sure,\u201d Cleary stresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome injuries just can\u2019t be helped. And we don\u2019t have all the answers as a club, either; no one does.<\/p>\n

\"PenrithPenrith celebrate a Tom Jenkins try against the Eels.NRL Photos<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re constantly readjusting, learning and working out the balance between data, GPS numbers, knowing your players, collaborating with them and also knowing when to trust your instincts on something. It really is a whole industry now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just for something different \u2013 and ignoring the luck factor \u2013 Penrith do injury prevention and management better than anyone in the game.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Penrith\u2019s total of 70 weeks missed through injury across the season ranked second only to Wests Tigers (63).<\/p>\n

The previous year, their 60 weeks was the NRL\u2019s lowest tally once more.<\/p>\n

But since they started winning premierships for fun, Penrith have never been this fit, this deep into a season.<\/p>\n

How do the Panthers compare to their previous premiership years?<\/p>\n

Every NRL campaign has its own tale to tell. This year\u2019s for Penrith includes the breakout left edge of Casey McLean and Tom Jenkins, with Jenkins\u2019 aerial prowess<\/a> especially offering Nathan Cleary a new cross-field kick target previous Panthers wingers didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The increased remit of six-agains had Penrith moving the ball earlier and more often in sets to come out of trouble at the start of the year. Paul Alamoti has thrived. Blaize Talagi\u2019s form has waxed and waned in recent weeks. Cleary is odds-on for the first Dally M medal of his career.<\/p>\n

This Panthers outfit plays more expansively and makes more mistakes than those that powered to titles in 2021 and 2022. Their attack has morphed since Api Koroisau moved on and rough-and-tumble Kenny became the first-choice hooker.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The 30.4 points Penrith average each game this year is their most at this stage of the season since 2021. The 13.9 points they concede sits between their 2023 and 2024 premiership average.<\/p>\n

The Warriors are their most consistent rival, the Roosters have the pedigree in their roster to challenge them, and if the Dolphins were fit and to catch fire on grand final day, their attack is capable of anything.<\/p>\n

Again, though, Penrith\u2019s fitness sets them apart. Just as it did in each of their previous title runs, when the Panthers had an impressive knack of fielding either a first-choice 17, or very close to it, on grand final day.<\/p>\n

During those 2021-24 seasons though, Cleary was sidelined at various stages by hamstring and shoulder injuries. In 2026, he has only missed games through Origin duties or being rested afterwards, albeit while gritting his teeth through a groin injury.<\/p>\n

\"PenrithPenrith celebrate their 2021 grand final win.Getty<\/p>\n

The 2021 grand final was won with half Penrith\u2019s side playing on one leg<\/a> (and Edwards playing with a broken foot). Jarome Luai\u2019s dicey shoulder was a compelling 2023 grand final storyline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players deserve a lot of credit, and our medical staff obviously too,\u201d Ivan Cleary says.<\/p>\n

Longtime head physio Pete Green, rehab physio Mitch Delahey and head of performance Tom Lovell play key roles in Penrith\u2019s football department.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Nathan<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best way I can explain it is that you have plan A, B, C and so on for week-to-week, and then longer term too,\u201d Cleary says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd say something like the Origin period, so much goes into it. We\u2019ve given our NSW players probably more rest than anyone. And so many factors will go into that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ll look at an Origin and consider how big a game it was, how long did they play, what was the emotional state of it, did they win, did they lose, what\u2019s the fallout? There\u2019s so many elements to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are we playing next? What\u2019s their travel and turnaround? Then there\u2019s things in your own season. Say if you\u2019re in-form and winning games, then you\u2019re probably controlling the game, which means players are maybe less drained mentally and physically.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all goes into the mix. And all-in-all, you\u2019re trying to make sure your players are fit and ready to play at the end of the season when it matters most\u201d.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-820316","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\/820316","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=820316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}