Ivan Cleary, youโll be shocked to learn, hates having a fuss made over him.
Even when heโs about to coach the 500th game of his rugby league career, a feat only six other coaches have achieved in 118 years.
Right now, with a trip to Melbourne and three games left in the regular season, Cleary and his son, Nathan, who also happens to be his champion halfback, are staring up at their latest mountain to conquer.
How do they recalibrate their attack and win a premiership without Isaah Yeo, who I donโt see taking the field again this season after suffering a significant pectoral injury.
With the Clearys in charge, Penrith have built the greatest dynasty in modern rugby league.
Who has been more influential in winning Penrithโs four premierships? Itโs like asking whether the chicken or the egg came first.
In this game and in the best teams, an NRL halfback is an extension of their coach. And a son is often an extension of his father, bearing similar attributes, virtues and habits as their old man.
Ivan and Nathan Cleary might just be the most perfect model of coach and halfback we have seen, or will see again.
Think about how the coach handles himself. When have you seen him blow up or celebrate a try when a game is still in the balance?
Ivan is cool as a cucumber, no matter whatโs going on โ whether heโs in the coachโs box, a press conference or his dressing room.
You can only imagine heโs been the same as a parent because Nathan is so similar in that facet of his personality. His greatest trait as a player is how heโs stayed cool and calm no matter the pressure on him, no matter the game heโs playing โ semi-finals, grand finals, Origin deciders or Test matches.
Again, just like Ivan, can you recall Nathan blowing up at a referee or a teammate? I canโt.
With a gun to my head, and as an old halfback, I have Nathan as slightly more influential in what Penrith have achieved. Not by much โ call it a 55 per cent-45 per cent split in favour of the son and No.7 because ultimately, itโs Nathan who is on the field winning and (rarely) losing games.
And the numbers show that. Obviously, Ivan and the Panthers have built an NRL powerhouse on their pathways and culture. But Nathan is at the epicentre of what they do on the field, and since the Clearys combined as coach and halfback in 2019, Penrith have won an astounding 73 per cent of games theyโve played.
Itโs not exactly a fair comparison. But itโs still hard to ignore the fact that that win percentage is an increase of almost 30 per cent on Ivanโs first stint in charge of Penrith in 2012-15.
So if weโre talking chickens and eggs, itโs the egg for mine. Ivan and his wife, Bec, have done a phenomenal job raising a golden one โ Dally M medal golden.
Does a great halfback make a coach great?
And in terms of how Nathan and Ivan rank as a coaching/playmaking pair, Iโm reminded of some of the great partnerships in our gameโs history.
In his first stint at Brisbane, Wayne Bennett won four premierships with a star-studded side and cheeky champion halfback Allan Langer. You couldnโt find two more different personalities that fit together so well.
With Alfie steering his Broncos teams around, Bennettโs win percentage was 68.4 per cent.
By far the toughest gig of Wayneโs career was his extremely difficult three years at Newcastle, when he was coaching through Alex McKinnonโs devastating career-ending injury and the chaos of Nathan Tinkler owning the club. Wayne never had an elite No.7, though, and his win percentage at the Knights dropped to 45 per cent.
Tim Sheensโ record at the Raiders with Ricky Stuart tells the same story. Those great Canberra sides won three titles together with Sticky calling the shots before Sheens moved on to North Queensland. And with no top-shelf halfback or class players, one of the gameโs truly great coaches won 26 per cent of his games.
Lastly, my favourite of all the coaches I played under, and who I also rate as the smartest Iโve encountered, was Warren Ryan. At Canterbury in the mid-1980s, he and Steve Mortimer combined for two premierships and a 66 per cent win rate.
โWokโ then moved to Balmain, where Benny Elias was a champion playmaker and changed the way hookers played. He was effectively their halfback in two grand finals and again, a 66 per cent win percentage. The next four years at Wests Magpies, coaching without a champion No.7, or champions in general, and his record dropped to 44 per cent as well.
These are just a few examples of champion coaches and champion players, with all sorts of different factors in how seasons swung and careers were shaped. But the statistics help put something of a value on a great halfback โ if youโve got one, youโre winning at least 20 per cent more games.
Coming back to Ivan and Nathan ahead of the coachโs 500th first-grade game, Nathan would tell you thereโs no way heโd be the same player without his old man and long-time NRL coach.
In rugby league, and sport in general, itโs rare enough that a champion coach mentors a once-in-a-generation player. For them to be father and son, I canโt think of any relationship that quite compares in this game.
With Ivan stepping down as Panthers head coach at the end of next season, itโs time to really enjoy their partnership โ which has been a true sporting phenomenon.
One manโs absence shows where rivals have Penrith covered
To be blunt, none of that will matter to Ivan.
Penrith travel to Melbourne on Thursday night and are in very different shape from when they put the cleaners through the Storm in round 5. I described that 50-10 win as the best performance I have ever seen from one side, given Melbourne had all their stars, completed their sets at 94 per cent and were still completely demolished.
Five months later, the Panthers have real worries. Their past two losses to the Warriors (28-12) and the Roosters (12-6) were effectively finals games and draining, incredibly physical defeats.
Isaah Yeo is so critical as the first layer in their attack, which is when he links with Cleary from first receiver before Nathan (second layer) then finds Dylan Edwards on the right edge and Jack Cogger or Blaize Talagi on the left (third layer).
The Roosters defended fantastically in last Thursdayโs epic. But it wasnโt until the last 15 minutes that I saw Lindsay Smith acting as that first layer again in Penrithโs attack, and this was when they managed to score a try and almost send the game to golden point.
Until then, the Panthers ran everything, with Cleary and Cogger alternating in what was effectively a reduced attacking structure, and the Roosters kept scrambling to deny them.
Without Yeo, I have no doubt Melbourne will be targeting Cleary with and without the ball. He normally averages 18-20 tackles per game. The Storm will want to crank that up to around 30, and having their own stars in Cameron Munster and Harry Grant on board makes such a huge difference to Melbourneโs in attack and defence.
Combined, I think theyโre worth around 12-14 points.
Now, I said it before Penrith lost to the Roosters and nothingโs changed in my eyes. I donโt think the Panthers can win the competition without Yeo.
Their middle rotation of Moses Leota, Lindsay Smith and Liam Henry is strong, but doesnโt have the X-factor that the Roosters and Warriors have with their big boys. Compare that trio against Naufahu Whyte, Victor Radley and Spencer Leniu (with Lindsay Collins, Connor Watson and Nat Butcher off the bench).
Or line them up against James Fisher-Harris, Mitch Barnett and Erin Clark (backed up by Tanner Stowers-Smith and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava along with Jackson Ford fighting to be fit for the finals).
Penrith just donโt have the same depth in the middle without Yeo, and weโre seeing Henry play longer minutes, which dulls his impact.
This week they face the Stormโs Stefano Utoikamanu, Trent Loiero and Josh King, and that match-up will go a long way to deciding who wins.
If Jarome Hughes was lining up for the home side, Iโd be tipping Melbourne. Again, it will be fascinating to watch how Penrith adjust to life without Yeo, and an upset wouldnโt surprise me.
Joeyโs tip: Panthers by two
First try-scorer: Moses Leo
Man of the match: Dylan Edwards
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Andrew Johns is an Immortal, a Newcastle great and a commentator for Channel NineFrom our partners
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