MOUNTAIN CLIMB IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE
NATHAN Cleary was just eight-years-old when he watched his father begin his mission to climb the NRL’S summit and coach a premiership side.
So Cleary is better placed than most to realise winning a title “is a tough mountain to climb”, even for the leader of the star-studded Mountain Men from Penrith. Ivan Cleary is second to Brian Smith, who coached 605 games, for most games without a premiership win. Cleary has now coached 367 games with no grand final win to his name after leading the Warriors, Tigers and Panthers.
Despite going down to South Sydney 16-10 last weekend in Townsville, Nathan believes his father’s title drought can still be broken in 2021.
“It‘s pretty hard to win a premiership, I think anyone will tell you that we’re doing our best and to try and try and get there. That’s obviously the goal,” Nathan said.
“That‘s every football player’s goal that puts on a jersey and that is no different for us.
“It‘s a tough mountain to climb, but you know we can put in our best effort to try and get there. We‘re still on this journey, one loss doesn’t change that. You just take lessons out of it. Some of the greatest lessons can come out of a loss and challenging times.”
Only last week, Ivan leapt to the defence of Nathan, questioning the tactics used by Souths to target the halfback after a report revealed Wayne Bennett had filed a series of complaints with referees about Penrith using blockers to protect Nathan from any kick pressure.
“Nah, definitely not,” Nathan said when asked if he thought he was a ‘protected species’ on the field.
Saturday’s loss has Penrith on a collision course with fierce rivals, Parramatta Eels. The do or die showdown is likely to come down to the two halfbacks. Eels No. 7 Mitchell Moses, who replaced the injured Cleary for NSW in Origin III, was instrumental in his side’s week one 28-20 win over Newcastle.