Ivan Cleary

Coach Ivan Cleary has revealed he felt sad about the impeding break-up of his Penrith squad and coaching staff after securing a second-straight NRL title.

"We have a lot of people that are in pathways and a lot of that who have worked so hard and don't get any credit." "We have to be able to do that. "He's had an incredible season, we won't be able to replace him." "You know, that's how we're going to, for us to be any good (going forward). "There were some quiet moments on my own and a little bit in front of the boys. "I got a bit emotional yesterday and I don't even know why," Cleary said on Sunday.

Coach Ivan Cleary has revealed he felt sad about the impending break-up of his Penrith squad and coaching staff after securing a second-straight NRL title.

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“ Cleary said the loss of Koroisau, the heartbeat of the team and Dally M hooker of the year, would be huge. But in the NRL change is inevitable and departures both on the field and off it of key players and even some personnel made for an emotional realisation for Cleary.

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“We had a little mid-year camp where we went and watched the movie and drew inspiration from a couple of the scenes. The creativity of the staff to just engage us as a crew and a team to give us that image of bringing it to a dogfight. That’s a product of what happened on the weekend, four grades all taking it out. Almost every week there was something brought up about it, going back to the movie. We reflected on it quite often in the back-end of the year. It’s sort of been a theme since we came out of mid-year camp and we just took it into every game and never took a backwards step. He [Ivan Cleary] talked about the dogfight in the movie and we kind of made that relatable to our style of footy. It just kept the finals flowing and it was like a new chapter for us going into the finals. Just little things like that. It was pretty awesome. The Panthers did just that. Last year, it was all about climbing and then conquering Mt Everest.

Ivan Cleary was reduced to tears in the pre-match meeting, such was his emotion ahead of the Panthers' Grand Final win on Sunday. Cleary…

I’m happy we get to leave them on a good note. I played like it was my last game,” said the Samoa international. “I went to the independent doctor on Tuesday. Sometimes that emotion gets the better of me and last week, my initial frustration was that I thought I would miss out on this week. I just wanted today to go well.” “I got a bit emotional yesterday, I don’t even know why.

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