# EMERGENCY POD: Ivan Cleary to Leave Penrith 2027!

An episode of [Backstage with Cooper & Matty Johns](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1729949087), 13 May 2026, 20 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/d7a60aed-0ec1-4a17-9f87-b248003b7796/788e29de-2040-4954-a2b7-b44900508f42/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=676e8df2-b284-47a4-9fbd-b248003b77ad

Ivan Cleary shocks the rugby league world by announcing he’ll leave Penrith Panthers after 2027. Subscribe, Watch, and Follow Catch the full episode on YouTube and stay updated by following us on social media: Linktree: Backstage with Cooper & Matty Contact Us For any enquiries, email us at: contact@johnsmedia.com.au 0:00-Ivan News Reaction 13:00-Peter Wallace 16:20-Rep Football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Wow, news that has rocked the rugby league world. Matthew,
[0:03] Speaker 1: I didn't think we've been doing an emergency podcast today,
[0:06] Speaker 1: but Ivan Cleary, full time in a row premiership winner
[0:10] Speaker 1: as a coach of the Penrith Panthers, has announced as
[0:13] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty seven, he will no longer be head
[0:15] Speaker 1: coach of the Penrith Panthers rugby league club. That's pretty
[0:19] Speaker 1: big news.
[0:20] Speaker 2: It's huge news. It's been plenty going on this week
[0:23] Speaker 2: in the game. This is the biggest news. I'll just
[0:26] Speaker 2: say this off the top. As NRLL fans geez were spoiled.
[0:32] Speaker 2: There is there a day that goes by when there's
[0:35] Speaker 2: just something that happens in the game. Like there is
[0:37] Speaker 2: as much happening off the game, off the field, sorry,
[0:41] Speaker 2: as there is on. I can't remember a single.
[0:43] Speaker 1: Something happened a couple of days ago and you said
[0:45] Speaker 1: the same thing. You went a lot of.
[0:46] Speaker 2: Other sports there.
[0:48] Speaker 1: It's very boring in terms of the drama. But like
[0:50] Speaker 1: rugby league is are so proper. It was like a
[0:52] Speaker 1: Monday or a Tuesday of this week and some news
[0:54] Speaker 1: broke out and it was just there's always just something
[0:56] Speaker 1: going on. It is reality TV within a sporting environment, isn't.
[1:00] Speaker 2: It without without a doubt. And as you said before,
[1:03] Speaker 2: a lot of people who follow their chosen sport, nothing
[1:07] Speaker 2: really happens from Monday to Friday. Then they hit the
[1:09] Speaker 2: weekend it's happening, you know. But in rugby league it
[1:12] Speaker 2: doesn't matter what day it is. There's just there's something
[1:16] Speaker 2: to absorb and entertainment.
[1:18] Speaker 1: Even the scandals, like even bad stuff that happens, it's like,
[1:22] Speaker 1: you know, there's something always happening. I remember when I
[1:24] Speaker 1: was doing the sports news on Kyle and Jackie Oshow,
[1:28] Speaker 1: and it'd always be I was looking through all the
[1:30] Speaker 1: different sports because I wanted to keep it quite broad
[1:32] Speaker 1: because we had Sydney and Melbourne trying to do AFL
[1:34] Speaker 1: stories as well. And I can tell you what, sometimes
[1:37] Speaker 1: the stuff that made the cutting rough floor just because
[1:39] Speaker 1: there was always just rugby league stories out. There's always
[1:41] Speaker 1: the rugby league journos do a really good job of
[1:44] Speaker 1: constantly providing stories for everyone. I can actually see that now.
[1:48] Speaker 1: As a player, I thought, geez, they're very pushy, always
[1:50] Speaker 1: wanted that, like, always wanting to get stories out. But
[1:52] Speaker 1: I can see now it makes the sport so much
[1:56] Speaker 1: better having constant stories throughout it without.
[1:58] Speaker 2: A shirt over doubt. And I think it was Danny
[2:00] Speaker 2: Denny Widler who broke it. Broke it originally did a
[2:04] Speaker 2: good job there, did a job because no one saw
[2:07] Speaker 2: this coming. And when you come up, you go, you
[2:10] Speaker 2: and Jack come up the stairs and you said it.
[2:12] Speaker 2: At first I was I was extremely surprised. But the
[2:15] Speaker 2: more you sit on it, you think about it, you go, Okay,
[2:18] Speaker 2: I totally get it. Particularly listened to Ivan talk in
[2:20] Speaker 2: the press conference. You've got if you talk about why
[2:27] Speaker 2: there's different things, Ivan said that his coach for such
[2:30] Speaker 2: such a long time, he has had that first year
[2:32] Speaker 2: the Panthers might have been three years, four years, maybe
[2:35] Speaker 2: even Tigers for a couple of years, then back to
[2:38] Speaker 2: the Panthers. I mean, that's when you think about Ivan,
[2:40] Speaker 2: it's probably because he's you know, I played against Ivan,
[2:45] Speaker 2: and I feel like we're about the same age. I
[2:47] Speaker 2: still view him as a young As a young coach
[2:50] Speaker 2: sounds strange.
[2:51] Speaker 1: Especially when you look at some of the other coaches
[2:54] Speaker 1: who's he's he's kind of on that pedestal now given
[2:56] Speaker 1: what he's done, particularly the last five years of like
[3:00] Speaker 1: you know, your belly aches and Wayne Bennett's when you
[3:02] Speaker 1: talk about success and you talk about he hasn't had
[3:05] Speaker 1: as long a career as those guys, so you still
[3:07] Speaker 1: see him as a very young coach. But I mean
[3:09] Speaker 1: he's done, like he's done everything there is in the game.
[3:12] Speaker 2: Now we started at the Wars, Yeah, I mean start
[3:15] Speaker 2: almost straight at a playing when in the coach of
[3:16] Speaker 2: the Wars, and then everything's gone from there. He's just
[3:19] Speaker 2: a world Underwiven for first and foremost on the decision
[3:23] Speaker 2: must have been a tough one. He mentioned the family
[3:25] Speaker 2: quite a bit. He mentioned his wife, Beck, you know,
[3:27] Speaker 2: and that's it. You don't think about the wives a
[3:29] Speaker 2: lot when it gets to coaching, but the toll it
[3:30] Speaker 2: must take on them. If you read Andrew Webster's book
[3:35] Speaker 2: on Ivan, you do get a real sense. You only
[3:38] Speaker 2: see Ivan the man who's lifted the trophies and everything,
[3:41] Speaker 2: but he went through some very very difficult and dark
[3:45] Speaker 2: times and it talks about that in the book. Okay,
[3:49] Speaker 2: why did you do it? Well, just think about this, right,
[3:52] Speaker 2: he has got that club, not just the term, the
[3:55] Speaker 2: club flying at the moment, and the things that he
[4:00] Speaker 2: has put in place will sustain to the point that
[4:04] Speaker 2: if Ivan tomorrow said, Hey, listen, guys are going to
[4:08] Speaker 2: see in eight weeks time, I'm going to go to
[4:11] Speaker 2: the States and take in the Soccer World Cup. They
[4:14] Speaker 2: wouldn't miss a beat. The club would sustain that, they
[4:18] Speaker 2: would not miss a bit at all, the team, the playmakers,
[4:22] Speaker 2: the assistants. And that's not diminishing in any way, shape
[4:25] Speaker 2: or form and how he coaches at all. It's completely
[4:29] Speaker 2: the opposite. He has done such an incredible job at
[4:33] Speaker 2: that club and put those things in place that that club,
[4:37] Speaker 2: those players, those assistants could just pick up the slack
[4:40] Speaker 2: and they would miss beat. That's because of him. That's
[4:43] Speaker 2: because what he's put in place. And I think when
[4:46] Speaker 2: you come to that conclusion, he probably feels that himself.
[4:49] Speaker 2: That he goes, right, I've got another radio in months
[4:51] Speaker 2: there after that, man, what what else? You know? What
[4:55] Speaker 2: else is there for me? What else is there for me?
[4:59] Speaker 1: I wonder? And I know that he spoke about having
[5:02] Speaker 1: a lot more freedom and flexibility, and from all indications,
[5:05] Speaker 1: seeing how they were interacting with the Sea on one,
[5:07] Speaker 1: it looks like he might take on sort of a
[5:10] Speaker 1: from a far coaching consultancy leadership sort of thing.
[5:13] Speaker 2: I stop you right there, Yep. I've never seen I've
[5:18] Speaker 2: rarely seen that work. I've heard coaches and clubs say
[5:22] Speaker 2: that they flag that coach consultancy. Two things. Number one,
[5:28] Speaker 2: I just don't think if you've got coaching in your blood,
[5:31] Speaker 2: I don't think that scratches the itch. The other thing
[5:36] Speaker 2: is the bloke who comes in there's going to be
[5:37] Speaker 2: the coach always probably feels like it's not quite his team,
[5:41] Speaker 2: Like you've got the big shadow there. We saw that
[5:43] Speaker 2: when Manchester United, Ali's Ferguson. We've said it all over
[5:45] Speaker 2: the place. There's been talked for years about Wayne and
[5:48] Speaker 2: Bellier going to that role. It just doesn't happen. I
[5:51] Speaker 2: think Ivan said he has no plans to coach another club.
[5:56] Speaker 2: I will say there was a moment in there what
[5:58] Speaker 2: I reckon every Dragon's fan would have went when he
[6:00] Speaker 2: said I've been thinking about the Dragons, like.
[6:04] Speaker 1: He like swallowed a goalie or something. So he held
[6:06] Speaker 1: for like three seconds, and I was going, Jesus thinking
[6:08] Speaker 1: about the Dragon's job for next year, and I'll call
[6:12] Speaker 1: you back. Is it actually Ivan?
[6:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still in.
[6:15] Speaker 1: The press conference, mate, and like you'd be his first call.
[6:19] Speaker 2: Yes, And so what was I talking there? Coops. Yeah,
[6:24] Speaker 2: like Billy Ache and those Blake's going to Kejuk consultants.
[6:26] Speaker 2: It just doesn't work. And the Panther and the Dragons
[6:29] Speaker 2: fans will you I've been thinking a lot about the
[6:31] Speaker 2: Dragons pause.
[6:34] Speaker 1: Everyone to freaking out. I mean, yeah, look, and I
[6:37] Speaker 1: know that what he said, you didn't want to coach
[6:39] Speaker 1: another NFL club. And at the end of twenty twenty seven,
[6:43] Speaker 1: I imagine next year, twenty twenty seven, that season he's
[6:45] Speaker 1: going to take a backward step and allow probably Peter
[6:48] Speaker 1: Wallace to take a lot more of the reins and
[6:50] Speaker 1: he'll just you know, he might do more press conferences
[6:52] Speaker 1: and whatnot to practice him for that. Yes, I think so,
[6:55] Speaker 1: that's the vibe I got when he was talking on there,
[6:57] Speaker 1: which I think is great. It's it's good to have twelve.
[6:59] Speaker 1: He spoke about someone early in his career that I
[7:01] Speaker 1: suppose was a bit more of a mentor for Room
[7:04] Speaker 1: and sort of sat behind the scenes helping him through
[7:06] Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. And he seems like he wants
[7:07] Speaker 1: to help Peter with that transition. And I think Peter
[7:10] Speaker 1: Willis is going to be a great coach. We're going to
[7:11] Speaker 1: talk about him, We'll go to it. But I mean
[7:14] Speaker 1: a lot can change in twelve months, right, Like he
[7:16] Speaker 1: might not enjoy that aspect next year. If that is
[7:20] Speaker 1: the case. I don't want to speculate too hard, but
[7:23] Speaker 1: what NROL clubs would be going to Ivan Cleary and
[7:26] Speaker 1: saying we want your services to twenty twenty eight.
[7:28] Speaker 2: Well, firstly he said, yeah, I've got no plans to
[7:31] Speaker 2: coach another NROL club, but he did mention REP Football.
[7:36] Speaker 2: You know, Laurie's coaching this year and unfairly. I mean,
[7:40] Speaker 2: I was listening to a podcasts the other day and
[7:41] Speaker 2: they're talking about if Lurie loses his series, there's no
[7:44] Speaker 2: coming back. And Paul Lurie hasn't picked up the clipboard
[7:47] Speaker 2: yet for this year, but if they are, that was
[7:51] Speaker 2: almost like you get that sense that that might be
[7:54] Speaker 2: a job that he's looking at. But in this next
[7:58] Speaker 2: eighteen months, I'm telling you, in the next TV deals
[8:00] Speaker 2: about to be done, so he's going to get more
[8:02] Speaker 2: and more money, mate, The money, the office that he
[8:05] Speaker 2: is going to be bombarded with ridiculous. He could be
[8:07] Speaker 2: if he if he wanted to, he could be the
[8:09] Speaker 2: first two million dollar coach.
[8:10] Speaker 1: That's what tax free if you want to know if
[8:12] Speaker 1: you've got it.
[8:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, well he's got We've got Willi there over
[8:16] Speaker 2: there at P and G. But if you have a
[8:18] Speaker 2: look where he's going to go, where he would be
[8:20] Speaker 2: desirable Perth. Of course Mao's going to be their first coach,
[8:24] Speaker 2: which is next year twenty twenty seven. Mate, you know
[8:27] Speaker 2: that there would be possibly for him to succeed straight away.
[8:30] Speaker 2: Maol might say, you know, I let him in. I
[8:33] Speaker 2: did that first year. Now someone else take over. I've
[8:35] Speaker 2: done the hard work. But that takes him a long
[8:38] Speaker 2: way from you know, parts of his family, his kids.
[8:42] Speaker 2: So maybe not the one that the one that that
[8:48] Speaker 2: I would think would be the favorite would be the Roosters. Yeah,
[8:53] Speaker 2: why do you think that he played at the Roosters.
[8:56] Speaker 2: He coached the Roosters in the lower grades as it
[8:59] Speaker 2: might have been under twenty side of the reserve grade side.
[9:02] Speaker 2: He was certainly assistant there for a while. Trent Robinson
[9:06] Speaker 2: has flagged numerous times that may pretty soon I consume
[9:10] Speaker 2: myself going back to France. You know, his wife is
[9:14] Speaker 2: French and he's always had the desire to go back there,
[9:17] Speaker 2: maybe move into a role with rugby union there. And
[9:20] Speaker 2: I think the timing for the Roosters for twenty to
[9:24] Speaker 2: twenty eight would be perfect. Whether he wants to do
[9:27] Speaker 2: it and Nick Politis gets his man. Nick gets his
[9:31] Speaker 2: man all the time. Ivan may have no plans, I said.
[9:34] Speaker 2: Ivan might have no plans at all at the moment
[9:36] Speaker 2: and say, you know, I really don't want to do it.
[9:38] Speaker 2: But if Uncle Nick comes banging and says, listen, I'm
[9:40] Speaker 2: going to give you two point two million dollars, Hey,
[9:42] Speaker 2: that's hard to knock back.
[9:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, it is it. I imagine that I don't know
[9:46] Speaker 1: the ins and outs of a coach a salary cap,
[9:48] Speaker 1: but I imagine that the NRL as well, particularly the NRL
[9:54] Speaker 1: like owned clubs, they had one Ivan Cleary in like
[9:57] Speaker 1: in coaching still and that consultancy role where you're not
[10:00] Speaker 1: really doing press conferences and whatnot. They especially for these
[10:03] Speaker 1: new clubs, like like we're saying, like with a Perth,
[10:06] Speaker 1: they would want someone like that to go over there,
[10:08] Speaker 1: these franchises that they want to see work, and they're
[10:11] Speaker 1: desperate to see work because it will grow the game.
[10:13] Speaker 1: I can't see why they wouldn't be getting together and
[10:16] Speaker 1: trying to like throw ridiculous money at.
[10:18] Speaker 2: Ovan pit of l and he's very cooen for him
[10:20] Speaker 2: to coach on. I mean what he's done at the
[10:24] Speaker 2: Penrith Panthers, the knowledge he has in the game, the standing,
[10:27] Speaker 2: the respect and everything they want him to get.
[10:28] Speaker 1: Well, what is what he's done for that? Not just that,
[10:30] Speaker 1: but like the community, the gathering of the community in
[10:33] Speaker 1: Sydney's West, the Western Sydney rugby league community, which has
[10:36] Speaker 1: always been the heartland of rugby league. That's never been
[10:39] Speaker 1: bigger and that's because of what he's done at Penrith
[10:41] Speaker 1: and like the junior system everything everyone at the West
[10:44] Speaker 1: wants to play rugby league.
[10:45] Speaker 2: Well, you think about this. One of the big things
[10:47] Speaker 2: that P and G chiefs. One of the big attractions
[10:50] Speaker 2: there is that it's going to transform a country. But
[10:54] Speaker 2: I'll tear what mate, there's some of those areas out
[10:56] Speaker 2: at Penrith. And when eye side all the time with
[10:59] Speaker 2: people is Mount drewid. Right when I was growing up,
[11:01] Speaker 2: Mount Drew it people you know, they say someone from
[11:03] Speaker 2: Mount drew They go, oh geez, Mount drewd now made
[11:06] Speaker 2: the people that coming to Mount drewd People look at
[11:08] Speaker 2: Mount drew It with great respect. People go look at
[11:10] Speaker 2: look at the look at the players, look at the
[11:12] Speaker 2: sports people look at this area produces and that that
[11:15] Speaker 2: has been born out of people like Stephen Crichton, Jerome
[11:19] Speaker 2: Lewi Bryant and so on and so forth. And Ivan
[11:23] Speaker 2: was the guy who nurtured those guys through, so he
[11:25] Speaker 2: has his fingerprints on all that. It is a team.
[11:29] Speaker 2: The Penrith Panthers are a team that has transformed an
[11:32] Speaker 2: area more than any other side I think ever in
[11:35] Speaker 2: rugby league.
[11:36] Speaker 1: What does this mean? I know a lot of the
[11:39] Speaker 1: Penrith Panthers players are off contract in twenty twenty seven.
[11:42] Speaker 1: Nathan Clears and Isaiah oh are the two big ones,
[11:44] Speaker 1: but amongst a number of others, which you know, we
[11:48] Speaker 1: spoke about it before and P and G have sort
[11:50] Speaker 1: of circled that they're looking at a lot of those
[11:51] Speaker 1: pandouth Panthers players. Do you think this announcement? What does that?
[11:55] Speaker 1: What does it do to those contract players that have
[11:57] Speaker 1: all come through and been coached by Ivan?
[11:59] Speaker 2: Clear a lot of those players that may move. I
[12:04] Speaker 2: don't think it will spark a Panthers to sporer. Let's
[12:07] Speaker 2: say that. I don't think they'll just go okay and
[12:09] Speaker 2: they're going to dispurst go over it. But I think
[12:10] Speaker 2: there's players like Isaiaho that Isaiah could very much say.
[12:15] Speaker 2: You know, we'll put it this way back back back
[12:18] Speaker 2: in the day, Isaiah, if we go back six, seven,
[12:21] Speaker 2: eight years ago, a decade ago, he'd go right out,
[12:23] Speaker 2: I'm getting to the end now, I was going to
[12:25] Speaker 2: get it's probably the right time for me. I'm going
[12:26] Speaker 2: to go to playing Wigan. I'm going to play some
[12:28] Speaker 2: helps go over there. Now. It's like if P and
[12:31] Speaker 2: G will come knocking for not just his ability, but
[12:34] Speaker 2: his knowledge and maybe into the future in a coaching role.
[12:37] Speaker 2: So that would be desirable for Isaiah. With Nathan, you
[12:40] Speaker 2: don't know Nathan, he's off contract at the same time.
[12:43] Speaker 2: Maybe he'll be looking for a new challenge. Maybe not.
[12:46] Speaker 2: But they have what that club has in place, they
[12:50] Speaker 2: will sustain. Yeah, you know, they have so much depth
[12:53] Speaker 2: at that club and there is so much attraction to
[12:55] Speaker 2: go to that club from for players. They will sustain.
[12:59] Speaker 2: But it's a big one. Peter Wallace, what a great
[13:03] Speaker 2: appointment and done a great job there.
[13:04] Speaker 1: You know.
[13:05] Speaker 2: It's it's it's what Melbourne's spoken about for the last
[13:09] Speaker 2: five years and what they want to do is the
[13:12] Speaker 2: fact that when Billy Ate says, you know what, it's time.
[13:14] Speaker 2: It's not replacing, it's succeeding someone within that club who
[13:18] Speaker 2: gets it with who gets it, and that's why they've
[13:20] Speaker 2: done such a great job. Peter Wallace has. He's done great,
[13:25] Speaker 2: a great job as an assistant. He's got great respect
[13:28] Speaker 2: from the players and everybody in the game. He's got
[13:30] Speaker 2: great knowledge and so well done. And you and Peter Wallace.
[13:36] Speaker 2: To succeed as an r real coach, you need more
[13:40] Speaker 2: than just knowledge. What you need is you've got to
[13:43] Speaker 2: be a good communicator. The really big one is you've
[13:46] Speaker 2: got to handle pressure. He played at the top level.
[13:48] Speaker 2: He'll handle that. And in turn with that, you've got
[13:52] Speaker 2: to be tough. And maybe he's a tough dude. I
[13:55] Speaker 2: know there's a difference between coaching tough and player tough,
[13:57] Speaker 2: but there's just a toughness of built into him. Mental
[14:00] Speaker 2: toughness make him sustain. I mean, do you remember that
[14:02] Speaker 2: State of Origin game? I think I think he played
[14:05] Speaker 2: a whole State of Origin game with a split when
[14:07] Speaker 2: he split his testicle and hah, yeah, I remember that.
[14:09] Speaker 1: I don't know if it was an origin though, was
[14:11] Speaker 1: it his nut?
[14:12] Speaker 2: Yeah?
[14:12] Speaker 1: I thought that was a pan of Panthers game. But
[14:15] Speaker 1: you talk about tough in general. He was a half
[14:16] Speaker 1: back and then when Nathan and that come through, he
[14:19] Speaker 1: moved to hooker, which not many halves do, and that's
[14:21] Speaker 1: the toughest position on the field in my opinion. He's
[14:23] Speaker 1: hooker because you're in you're a smaller body in there,
[14:25] Speaker 1: and he did it very well. And he's the kind
[14:28] Speaker 1: of player that wasn't naturally gifted with all this talent,
[14:31] Speaker 1: Like he wasn't the fastest, I had this amazing side step,
[14:34] Speaker 1: but he's got he had a footy IQ and understood
[14:37] Speaker 1: his game so well. So I think that allows him
[14:39] Speaker 1: as a coach to be able to communicate and educate
[14:41] Speaker 1: so many young players.
[14:42] Speaker 2: And have a look at all the coaches that come
[14:44] Speaker 2: out of Penrith during Ivan's time, Cameron Surrealder, Andrew Webster
[14:49] Speaker 2: just you know. And Ben Gardner now is going to
[14:52] Speaker 2: be assistant to maw over it in Perth. He's got
[14:55] Speaker 2: his fingerprints on a lot of clubs.
[14:57] Speaker 1: And I have no doubt that like they have taken
[15:00] Speaker 1: in that Melbourne store model and done it their own way,
[15:02] Speaker 1: and I think of the last ten years they've done
[15:04] Speaker 1: it actually better, Like they've had more success, but they've
[15:07] Speaker 1: taken that model of you know, players go there and
[15:09] Speaker 1: they become better. They get good people in and they
[15:13] Speaker 1: become better. They buy them low, they educate them and
[15:15] Speaker 1: they leave, you know, as million dollar players. And the
[15:18] Speaker 1: same with the assistants you saw under Craig Bellamy. How
[15:21] Speaker 1: many assistants came and went with Craig Bellamy and then
[15:23] Speaker 1: ended up as head coaches.
[15:24] Speaker 2: Madge, Jason Rylem O'Brien, looks Jason Rolls, Steven Kearney, so
[15:30] Speaker 2: on and so forth. The difference between Melbourne and Penrith
[15:36] Speaker 2: is the size of Penrith Junior Nursery and so the
[15:39] Speaker 2: money that they have to spend and how good they've
[15:41] Speaker 2: got to be with their pathways, selecting the right kids,
[15:43] Speaker 2: educating the kids. They've got a bigger job than Melbourne.
[15:46] Speaker 2: Melbourne find great kids and not kids, but they find people,
[15:52] Speaker 2: you know, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen upround you know, even early twenties,
[15:56] Speaker 2: bring them in and educate them and get them going.
[15:59] Speaker 2: Just now where start to see people I saw Faye
[16:02] Speaker 2: long ago and they're coming through that are local. They're
[16:04] Speaker 2: starting to get that now, starting to get a pathways
[16:07] Speaker 2: there now. But Penrith have done an incredible job. And
[16:09] Speaker 2: it's not an easy job when you've got an enormous
[16:12] Speaker 2: area like that in so many juniors, it's hard to
[16:15] Speaker 2: school them all up and it's hard to keep, you know,
[16:18] Speaker 2: to identify the best ones. Yeah, and we've seen that
[16:20] Speaker 2: with the Broncos for years. They struggle with that for years.
[16:24] Speaker 1: But congratulations to Peter Wallace and Ivan had an awesome
[16:26] Speaker 1: career so far. We're not sure what's next, but I
[16:29] Speaker 1: do want to We spoke about the rep football thing before,
[16:32] Speaker 1: which he alluded to he might be interested in. Do
[16:34] Speaker 1: you think it come the end of their twenty twenty seven,
[16:38] Speaker 1: Like it's the only arena that he hasn't coached, you know,
[16:42] Speaker 1: Nathan and these Penrith boys in and do you think
[16:46] Speaker 1: he would be I mean, it sounded like he was
[16:48] Speaker 1: interested in doing the State of Osian role with what
[16:49] Speaker 1: he said in the press conference. But do you think
[16:52] Speaker 1: that that's almost like an itch he wants to scratch
[16:56] Speaker 1: to coach those boys in that origin arena. We sort
[16:59] Speaker 1: of seem like that.
[17:00] Speaker 2: It seems like that. It seems like that and but
[17:03] Speaker 2: a lot of that, like you've got to give in
[17:06] Speaker 2: respect to Laurie. You know, it's Laurie's job at the moment,
[17:10] Speaker 2: it's Lorry's job. He's a series coming up. Laurie might
[17:12] Speaker 2: coach there for the next five years. So but by
[17:15] Speaker 2: talking about Red football, who knows, might be the national job.
[17:19] Speaker 2: But when you hear people talk about Red football, it's
[17:23] Speaker 2: it's state of origin they're generally talking about.
[17:25] Speaker 1: I'll give my opinion because you don't want to, like
[17:27] Speaker 1: I could see you're you want to you know, you
[17:29] Speaker 1: want to respect both in the current coach. But I
[17:31] Speaker 1: feel as as a father from him and as the
[17:35] Speaker 1: coach who understands Nathan and those Panadis boys game better
[17:39] Speaker 1: than anyone. I think he I think in himself he
[17:43] Speaker 1: would want to coach him at that level because he
[17:44] Speaker 1: knows he get the best out of him.
[17:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, and it would be a great challenge for him
[17:47] Speaker 2: because just you know, you can achieve everything a club
[17:50] Speaker 2: level and origin coaching is slightly different. It's I mean,
[17:52] Speaker 2: look abilliating. Yeah, just it just didn't work. For whatever reason,
[17:58] Speaker 2: it just didn't work. I noticed. Just to finish with,
[18:01] Speaker 2: I just got tipped off there. I've been listening. Just
[18:04] Speaker 2: keep an eye on the monitor. Just there about some
[18:06] Speaker 2: of the things he's been saying. Ivan, we moved out.
[18:09] Speaker 2: Just before the end of the press conference, he finished
[18:11] Speaker 2: by saying, they said, do you have any regrets? And
[18:14] Speaker 2: he said, yeah, My greatest regret is I've never got
[18:18] Speaker 2: to coach Cooper Jordan.
[18:19] Speaker 1: You know I was You know what's funny, I was
[18:21] Speaker 1: about to say that as well, have you because we've
[18:25] Speaker 1: said it before. Let's said it before. Twenty twenty two,
[18:28] Speaker 1: before I signed to Melbourne. Before I signed mainly from Melbourne,
[18:32] Speaker 1: I had a meeting with Zoom with the CEO. Was
[18:35] Speaker 1: at Cameron George and it was Ivan Cleary and he said,
[18:40] Speaker 1: Matt Cameron, Sorry, not Cameron George. Is that the New Zealand? Yeah, yes,
[18:44] Speaker 1: Matt Cameron and Ivan and Cameron George.
[18:47] Speaker 2: Are been goaing.
[18:48] Speaker 1: God No George camer Oh, God, get him away from
[18:51] Speaker 1: us BRO. And then I thought, I've got it. I've
[18:55] Speaker 1: got it. I've got it. I'm going to enjoy myself
[18:56] Speaker 1: this off season. I'll be getting ready for a pre
[18:58] Speaker 1: season at Penrith where I'm winning premierships. Little did I
[19:01] Speaker 1: know the only other person he had to go and
[19:03] Speaker 1: interview was he flew to England to interview Jack Cogger,
[19:06] Speaker 1: and clearly Coggs had just led his way into a
[19:08] Speaker 1: job past me. I was up at Hamilton Island getting
[19:12] Speaker 1: on the piss with him mate Fifi who was living
[19:15] Speaker 1: at Hammer at the time as a like a as
[19:17] Speaker 1: a carpenter, and Ivan's rang me and know what here
[19:19] Speaker 1: it is, I've got the penrith Ky Hello Ivan, Hello Ivan,
[19:22] Speaker 1: And he went, yeah, mate, I just wanted to let
[19:24] Speaker 1: you know first hand. Up, I think we're going to
[19:26] Speaker 1: go with We're going to go with Jack Cogger.
[19:28] Speaker 2: You snooze, you lose Ivan for the next few years.
[19:31] Speaker 1: And I said, yeah you. I said, you will never
[19:34] Speaker 1: be a premiership winning coach.
[19:36] Speaker 2: Whatever time we went to Maddie Naples place and Ivan
[19:38] Speaker 2: was there and you said, mate, you don't know what
[19:40] Speaker 2: you missed out on.
[19:42] Speaker 1: I know, I know, and he doesn't. He really doesn't.
[19:45] Speaker 2: He doesn't.
[19:45] Speaker 1: You know he coached full.
[19:47] Speaker 2: Premiership now he does, but he said.
[19:48] Speaker 1: It he would have had five. But we wish you well, Penrith.
[19:53] Speaker 1: Ivan clearly been a champion coach and Peter Wallace going
[19:56] Speaker 1: forward we might even get him on the pod. Yeah,
[19:58] Speaker 1: Wallace and grommet about that's right.
[20:00] Speaker 2: At the bike, so it comes back, so you might
[20:02] Speaker 2: see you

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