{"id":886006,"date":"2026-09-09T19:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/886006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:12:16","slug":"nrl-ivan-cleary-likens-isaah-yeo-to-octopus-after-miracle-recovery-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/886006\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL: Ivan Cleary likens Isaah Yeo to octopus after miracle recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has likened inspirational co-captain Isaah Yeo to an octopus after the representative star defied medical science to return just four weeks after suffering a ruptured pectoral muscle.<\/p>\n

While it takes an octopus roughly 130 days to completely regrow one of its eight arms, it took Yeo just 30 to get back on the field after leaving the game in Auckland on August 7 to an injury that should have ended his season.<\/p>\n

Ruptures generally require surgery that sidelines players for months, but the four-time premiership winner is a medical marvel after he returned on Sunday and played 54 minutes off the bench without missing a tackle. <\/p>\n

Yeo will now start at lock against the Roosters in Sunday\u2019s qualifying final. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s maybe like an octopus. Can they lose an arm and just carry on? It\u2019s pretty incredible what he\u2019s been able to do,\u201d Cleary told the NewsWire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt says a lot about his courage but also how process driven he is. He took in all the information when the scan came back and listened to the physios and the doctors and took it all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just taken it one day at a time and has continually got more confident. Considering everything he\u2019d done in training, the biggest test was a game, and he came through the game on Sunday really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extraordinary mental skill and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeo\u2019s recovery is testament to Penrith\u2019s high performance team, which has a proven record of getting players fit at the right time of the year.<\/p>\n

You occasionally see a player suffer a soft tissue injury during a game, but it never happens at training like at some clubs who can\u2019t take a trick. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur high performance program is a good one,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of time and effort into it led by Tom Lovell, who is our head of performance. Our medical department are all part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of emphasis on making sure we get our talent to play as many games as possible. Part of that is definitely luck, but the number of conversations on a daily basis on so many different things is completely different to when I started.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t stop them all, but they do a great job.<\/p>\n

\u201cKudos to the players as well because they have created a culture where they don\u2019t give in to anything. If they can find a way around an injury (then they will) because at this time of year, everyone is carrying certain things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finals are an important time for Cleary on and off the field, with the legendary coach teaming up with DrinkWise for the second year in a row to promote their Always respect, always DrinkWise campaign.<\/p>\n

Cleary has a simple yet important message to fans who should moderate their alcohol consumption this finals series and show respect to everyone around them. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very proud to be back with DrinkWise. I think it\u2019s a great message for everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur game relies on fans and even more so in finals because the energy goes up with the passion, the tribalism and all that stuff. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that all those fans get a good experience. That means that if you want to have a drink, it\u2019s important that it\u2019s done in moderation and respectfully for those around you so everyone comes away with a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Like an octopus\u2019: Ivan Cleary explains superstar\u2019s \u2018extraordinary\u2019 recovery from injury as the master coach sends an important message to fans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has likened inspirational co-captain Isaah Yeo to an octopus after the representative star defied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[454891,454928,447641,404647,454924,376649,454898,381893,379201,454904,454919,399995,402325,454895,376730,454894,379284,454930,379486,454901,454910,454923,380349,381082,392016,376637,454918,400979,380901,454912,400656,392349,454915,406065,454914,64,22065,205086,63,454931,50921,34990,80951,454913,141250,454892,1635,16308,454922,454906,12979,3899,454908,5094,454921,5098,434477,417702,389188,454896,35547,39417,454929,60771,49731,9051,761,762,158,307881,380373,454905,454902,454911,454925,5357,421053,6622,16284,6342,7820,23184,9489,163920,454897,454916,454926,85,8825,171338,1369,384381,454909,425195,380313,377453,377514,390157,74713,454893,432285,380371,393515,387743,454600,175806,380452,397376,174850,454899,454927,454920,454907,454903,454917,436345,378871,422941,454900,1542,1547,143929],"class_list":["post-886006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-extraordinary","tag-s-high-performance-team","tag-s-qualifying-final","tag-s-recovery","tag-54-minutes","tag-a-culture","tag-a-daily-basis","tag-a-drink","tag-a-game","tag-a-good-experience","tag-a-good-one","tag-a-great-experience","tag-a-great-job","tag-a-great-message","tag-a-lot","tag-a-medical-marvel","tag-a-player","tag-a-proven-record","tag-a-row","tag-a-ruptured-pectoral-muscle","tag-a-simple-yet-important-message","tag-a-soft-tissue-injury","tag-a-tackle","tag-a-time","tag-a-trick","tag-a-way","tag-all-part","tag-all-that-stuff","tag-all-the-information","tag-all-those-fans","tag-an-arm","tag-an-important-message","tag-an-important-time","tag-an-injury","tag-an-octopus","tag-au","tag-auckland","tag-august-7","tag-australia","tag-certain-things","tag-cleary","tag-conversations","tag-drinkwise","tag-drinkwise-campaign-cleary","tag-emphasis","tag-extraordinary-mental-skill-and-resilience","tag-fans","tag-finals","tag-his-courage","tag-his-season-ruptures","tag-injuries","tag-injury","tag-inspirational-co-captain-isaah-yeo","tag-isaah-yeo","tag-its-eight-arms","tag-ivan-cleary","tag-just-30","tag-just-four-weeks","tag-just-one-month","tag-kudos","tag-lock","tag-luck","tag-many-games","tag-medical-science","tag-moderation","tag-months","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-one-day","tag-our-game","tag-our-head","tag-our-high-performance-program","tag-our-medical-department","tag-our-talent","tag-panthers","tag-panthers-coach-ivan-cleary","tag-part","tag-penrith","tag-performance","tag-players","tag-process","tag-recovery","tag-respect","tag-roughly-130-days","tag-so-many-different-things","tag-some-clubs","tag-sports","tag-sunday","tag-superstar","tag-surgery","tag-the-bench","tag-the-biggest-test","tag-the-doctors","tag-the-energy","tag-the-field","tag-the-finals","tag-the-four-time-premiership-winner","tag-the-game","tag-the-legendary-coach","tag-the-master-coach","tag-the-newswire","tag-the-number","tag-the-passion","tag-the-physios","tag-the-players","tag-the-representative-star","tag-the-right-time","tag-the-roosters","tag-the-scan","tag-the-second-year","tag-the-tribalism","tag-the-year-you","tag-their-alcohol-consumption","tag-their-always-respect","tag-this-finals-series","tag-this-time","tag-time-and-effort","tag-tom-lovell","tag-training","tag-year","tag-yeo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886006","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=886006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}