Ivan Cleary is looking forward to the latest chapter in one of rugby league’s best modern rivalries as the Panthers prepare to host the Melbourne Storm at BlueBet Stadium on Friday night.
The Storm are one of only three teams to lower the Panthers colours at home since 2020, however the Panthers got the chocolates when they met at Marvel Stadium in round 18, 34-16.
Cleary was full of praise for the Storm outfit, expecting them to bounce back and describing them as one of the benchmarks of the competition for the past two decades.
“They’ve been there or thereabouts for nearly 20 years,” Cleary said of the Storm. “This year’s no different.”
“There have been some other sides that’ve obviously been up there throughout that period but the Storm have always been in and around it.
“There’s probably been some questions asked about them this year, but like a typical great club, every time there is they put on a great display like they did last week [against Parramatta]. I’m assuming they’re looking forward to doing something similar this week.
“We’re going to have to be at our best.”
The Storm have been the benchmark for 20 years: Cleary
With 14 wins from 31 matches coaching against Craig Bellamy throughout his career, only Des Hasler (17 wins from 35) and Steve Folkes (6 wins from 12) among those that have coached at least six matches have a better winning record against Bellamy than Cleary.
Cleary was also quick to praise the work of Bellamy in keeping the Storm up for so long.
“Craig’s done that year in, year out,” he said.
“They’ve had a lot of great players at that club and plenty that they’ve let go as well. They just seem to be able to keep producing teams that are so competitive. They’ve lost a lot of players this year, yet here they still are in the top 4.”
On the field, the match is shaping up to be a classic shootout between the two big-name halves combinations as Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary face off against Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes, even if the coach is still worried about his halfback trying to overplay his hand.
“I just feel like when he’s been out for a while he has a lot of things that he wants do, which is good,” Cleary admitted.
“It’s a sort of creativity. I just feel like he can probably rein it in a bit sometimes.
“I think he’s going really well by the way. All in all I’m pretty happy with how he’s come back.”
As for stopping the likes of Munster and the entire Storm side, Cleary’s focus is on getting the simple things right, which should go a long way to a Penrith victory.
“We just try and limit Munster as much as we can,” he said.
“He’s going to play well and be dangerous. They’ve got a few other pretty good guys in there as well.
Against these types of players and teams, we’ve just got to try and play our game well, and if we can do that, we can limit what they do on the night.
Ivan Cleary
“We've come through Origin pretty well. So we’re just looking forward to continuing to get our cohesion back together, there were some signs of that the other night which is good.
“I always look forward to the challenge and same thing this week.
“Looking forward to improving again this week.”
