Ivan Cleary

Ivan Cleary (born 1 March 1971) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Penrith Panthers in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a fullback and centre in the 1990s and 2000s.

Ivan Cleary

Personal information
Born	(1971-03-01) 1 March 1971 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	89 kg (14 st 0 lb)
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1992–93 Manly Sea Eagles 15 8 50 0 132 1994–95 North Sydney 37 15 5 0 70 1996–99 Sydney Roosters 81 29 303 0 722 2000–02 New Zealand Warriors 53 12 195 1 439 Total 186 64 553 1 1363
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2006–11 New Zealand Warriors 164 81 3 80 49 2012–15 Penrith Panthers 100 45 0 55 45 2017–18 Wests Tigers 43 18 0 25 42 2019– Penrith Panthers 38 23 1 14 61 Total 345 167 4 174 48 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2015 Prime Minister's XIII 1 1 0 0 100
As of 4 August 2020 Source: [1][2]

He is a former head coach of the Wests Tigers, New Zealand Warriors and the Penrith Panthers. As a player, Cleary was a goal-kicking fullback who played club football in Australia and New Zealand, setting a new record for most points scored in a season during the 1998 NRL Premiership.

Early life

Cleary was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and grew up in the Sydney Northern Beaches' suburb of Beacon Hill, New South Wales.//3

Playing career

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Originally a goal-kicking fullback, Cleary was a Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles junior before moving to play Reserve Grade with the Sea Eagles in 1992 and 1993. He started his first grade career with the Sea Eagles in 1992 playing two games before getting his chance after the team's first choice fullback Matthew Ridge suffered a season-ending injury in mid-1993. Cleary filled the fullback spot and also proved himself an accurate goal-kicker, filling in for Ridge on both counts and helping Manly to 4th place and a finals berth where they were bundled out 4-16 by the Brisbane Broncos in the Qualifying Final.

In his 15 first grade games for Manly, Cleary scored 8 tries and kicked 50 goals (from 71 attempts for 70.4%) for a total of 132 points.[3]

North Sydney Bears

With Ridge set to return in 1994 Cleary signed with Manly's local rivals the North Sydney Bears for 1994 and 1995 seasons where he mainly played in the centres due to the emergence of fullback Matt Seers.[4] He also was the team's 2nd choice goal kicker behind Jason Taylor and in 37 games for the Bears he scored 15 tries but kicked only 5 goals (from 6 attempts) for a total of 70 points.[5]

Sydney Roosters

Cleary began playing for the Sydney City Roosters from seasons 1996 through to the 1999 season making 81 appearances for the tri-colours. In 1998, Cleary was The NRL top point scorer with 284 points.[6]

New Zealand Warriors

Cleary signed with the New Zealand Warriors for the 2000 season before the fullback retired at the end of the 2002 season following the warriors grand final loss.[7]

Coaching career

After leaving the Warriors Cleary originally intended to join the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League but instead retired to take up an opportunity to join the Sydney Roosters as the NSWRL Premier League coach.[8] In 2004 he coached the team to the Premiership.

New Zealand Warriors

Cleary coached New Zealand to the 2011 NRL grand final against Manly; they lost 24–10. In the following weeks, Cleary announced he was leaving to join Penrith.[9]

Penrith Panthers

Early season injuries and some poor form from the Penrith Panthers saw a tough start to Cleary's return to Sydney with Penrith sitting 15th after Round 19 of the 2012 NRL season with a 4-13 record. In 2014, Cleary took Penrith to the preliminary final before losing to Canterbury. He was also named Dally M coach of the year in the same season. He was fired on 19 October 2015 after avoiding the wooden spoon with a final round victory over Newcastle.[10][11][12]

Wests Tigers

He was appointed as the coach of the Wests Tigers on 3 April 2017.[13] In Round 22 of the 2017 NRL Season, Cleary coached the Wests Tigers and coached against his son, Nathan Cleary who was playing for the Penrith Panthers in a losing effort by 28–14. In the 2018 season, Cleary guided Wests to a ninth-placed finish narrowly missing out on a finals spot. On 28 October 2018, the Wests Tigers released Cleary from the final two years of his contract. Cleary also sent a departing text message to the tigers playing group saying "G'day boys I hope this finds you well and enjoying your time off, I was writing to you in the hope of beating the press.. to let you know that I will no longer be your coach at Wests Tigers. "This is an extremely uncomfortable situation for me as I have genuine fondness for the club, and I have loved coaching you all.. I understand that this situation has caused some pain for people that I care about, along with putting the club in an awkward situation... I do not feel good about this. "I would have preferred to do this in person but time and circumstances have made that impossible. I hope we meet again soon and I wish you all the very best in the future. You have my number and I am always open for a chat if you wish. Iv."[14][15]

Penrith Panthers (2)

On 29 October 2018, the Penrith Panthers confirmed the return of Ivan Cleary as head coach, on a 5-year deal, beginning in 2019.[16] Ivan linked with his son Nathan Cleary and began his second stint as head coach at the Penrith Panthers.

Cleary's second spell in charge at Penrith got off to a bad start with the club winning only 2 of their first 10 matches leaving the team bottom of the table. Penrith would then go on to win their next 7 games in a row leaving them just outside the finals places. In a must win game against the Sydney Roosters in round 24, Penrith lost the match 22-6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground which meant that the club would miss out on the finals series for the first time since 2015.[17]

In round 8 of the 2020 NRL season, Cleary coached Penrith to a 19-12 victory over the Wests Tigers. Following the full time siren, angry Wests fans shouted abuse at Cleary who was inside the coaches box. Cleary proceeded to wave and blow kisses at the Wests Tigers supporters.[18]

Following Penrith's 28-12 round 13 victory over Canberra in the 2020 NRL season, Cleary questioned the integrity of the referees in the post match press conference by saying he felt Canberra were managed back into the game by the officials. Cleary was later fined $20,000 for his comments.[19]

Statistics

Ivan Cleary – coaching results by season
Team	Year	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %	Finals
NZL	2006	24	12	0	12	50%	Finished 10th (out of 15)
NZL	2007	26	13	1	12	52%	Lost 2007 NRL Semi Final against North Queensland Cowboys 12—49
NZL	2008	27	15	0	12	56%	Lost 2008 NRL Preliminary Final against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 6—32
NZL	2009	24	7	2	15	33%	Finished 14th (out of 16)
NZL	2010	25	14	0	11	56%	Lost 2010 NRL Qualifying Final against Gold Coast Titans 16—28
NZL	2011	28	16	0	12	57%	Lost 2011 NRL Grand Final against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 10—24
NZL		154	77	3	74	51%
PEN	2012	24	8	0	16	33%	Finished 15th (out of 16)
PEN	2013	24	11	0	13	46%	Finished 10th (out of 16)
PEN	2014	26	16	0	10	62%	Lost 2014 NRL Preliminary Final against Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 12—18
PEN	2015	24	9	0	15	38%	Finished 11th (out of 16)
WST	2017	19	6	0	13	32%	Finished 14th (out of 16)
WST	2018	24	12	0	12	50%	Finished 9th (out of 16)
WST		43	18	0	25	42%
PEN	2019	24	11	0	13	46%	Finished 10th (out of 16)
PEN		122	55	0	67	45%
Career		319	150	3	166	47%

References

1. Shawn Dollin and Andrew Ferguson (18 October 2015). "Ivan Cleary". Rugbyleagueproject.com.
2. Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Ivan Cleary - Summary - Rugby League Project". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
3. Shawn Dollin and Andrew Ferguson (19 October 2015). "Custom Match List". Rugbyleagueproject.org.
4. "Ivan Cleary on Nathan Cleary and returning as an NRL coach". Nrl.com. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
5. Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Custom Match List - Rugby League Project". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
6. "Ivan Cleary's rugby league career". Sbs.com.au. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
7. "Ivan Cleary bids early farewell to Warriors". Stuff.co.nz. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
8. Warriors coach Ivan Cleary - who is he really? Sunday Star-Times, 21 September 2008
9. "Michael Brown: Warriors must retain grand final team". Nzherald.co.nz. 2 October 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
10. "Penrith Panthers axe coach Ivan Cleary after NRL season of struggle". ABC News.
11. Press, Australian Associated (19 October 2015). "Anthony Griffin in running to replace sacked Penrith coach Ivan Cleary". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
12. "Cleary named NRL Coach of the Year". Nrl.com. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
13. "Wests Tigers announce Cleary as head coach". Nrl.com. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
14. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/10/27/ivan-cleary-texts-farewell-message-to-wests-tigers-players/
15. https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/ivan-cleary-slammed-benny-elias-wests-tigers-penrith-panthers/527524aa-29b4-4322-9b72-28b18222c570
16. "Cleary appointed Panthers head coach". Penrith Panthers. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
17. "Panthers torch $3 million in dud investments … to go backwards". Fox Sports.
18. "Brisbane lose to warriors sharks panthers post wins". www.abc.net.au.
19. "NRL fines Ivan Cleary $20000". www.nrl.com.

External links

• Penrith Panthers profile
• Wests Tigers profile
• Profile, yesterdayshero.com.au
• Profile, rugbyleague.co.nz

Preceded by Tony Kemp	Coach New Zealand Warriors 2006-2011	Succeeded by Brian McClennan
Preceded by Matthew Elliott	Coach Penrith Panthers 2012-2015	Succeeded by Anthony Griffin
Preceded by Mick Cronin	Record-holder Most points in an NRL season 1998-2004	Succeeded by Hazem El-Masri