Panthers Can See Cleary Now | Thebigtip

The Penrith Panthers began their 2012 Telstra Premiership campaign with pre-season training from 7.30am this morning. There is new hope in the golden west and the man leading the way is new head coach Ivan Cleary.

Forget General Manager Phil Gould for a moment. Cleary is the man who will deserve the credit if the Panthers turn their fortunes around next season.

It has always been about attitude for the players at Penrith. From day one in 1967 it has been about how individual players respond to the pressures of top flight rugby league.

There has never been a middle resting place for the club. They have either been atrocious and resembled a pub side or been mind blowing and won the title. Unfortunately there has been too many lost seasons where the players have taken their employment for granted.

Enter Ivan Cleary.

A man who has squeezed every last drop of talent out of a New Zealand Warriors squad that for many years overachieved. His skill and nous as a coach culminated this year with the Warriors appearing in the grand final. Also remember that the Warriors never used their entire salary cap whilst Cleary was in charge.

Cleary’s first move at Penrith was to clean up the roster. He quickly moved on a number of players that were eating away at the salary cap and had probably passed their best years. Cleary knows you cant have a fresh start without fresh young faces.

Petero Civoneciva, Trent Waterhouse, Timana Tahu, Frank Puletua, Adrian Purtell, Shane Elford, Matt Bell and Joseph Paulo are gone and in the process picked up Junior Vaivai and Clint Newton.

You cant start a revolution with old men and Cleary knows you cant teach an old dog new tricks. That’s why he is there.

Yesterday at Panthers Leagues Club, Cleary and Gould spoke to more than 100 players from the Penrith squads. Not for long because that isn’t Cleary’s style. There has been too much talk at the foot of the mountains for far too long.

Goal kicking winger Michael Gordon knows the tough job ahead of them.

"Gus (Gould) did most of the talking. Ivan was quiet and reserved but what he did say, everyone took on board".

That is how it will be in the media in 2012 too. Gould will be the spokesman and Cleary will keep his talking for his players behind closed doors.

“He spoke about discipline, respect and trust. We will use those key words through the pre-season. He said if we work hard and play hard, everything else will go from there. There is a fresh feel at the club and everyone is pretty excited" Gordon said.

"We know what Ivan did with the Warriors and we hope he can bring some of that success to us. We're looking to have a big season. We don't want to say where we will finish but we will play hard and work hard”.

The Panthers cannot be awesome one week and poor the next. If Cleary is going to instil anything into these players, it will to be consistently trying to improve themselves every round of the competition. They wont win every game, but it will harden them as players and as men.

Cleary is a man that leads by his actions. Can the Panthers follow?