Ivan Cleary warned the Panthers’ dynasty is not over despite failing to make the Grand Final for the first time since 2019 after their 16-14 loss to the Broncos in the preliminary final.
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Cleary was asked to reflect on the dynasty now that their run of five straight grand finals and four premierships is over.
“What’s over?” Cleary said.
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“I’d like to think there’s more in us. We are not going to win it this year, but we definitely showed a fair bit to fight back from a poor start.
“That’s it’s own story, but doesn’t need to be told today. Probably some lessons in there, but ultimately just not quite good enough this year.
“But I feel like we’ve got some real strides with some young guys this year and the core of our team is going to still be there next year, and hopefully they use this feeling, which we haven’t had for a while to spur us on into next year.”
Panthers skipper Nathan Cleary admitted his four premierships provided little comfort amid the hollow feeling of missing out on a Grand Final
“I think so for sure, I think that’s initial feelings is like that,” Cleary junior said.
“Just a horrible feeling losing and being knocked out. I just haven’t felt that in a while, so definitely don’t want this feeling again.
“As Dad touched on, there’s a lot of young guys that can take a lot of experience out of this final series, but also the season as a whole, like a lot of us older guys, as leaders can take a lot out of it too.
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“I think we’ve really had to grow as leaders, and quite frankly, we weren’t doing it well enough this year.
“I’ve found it a really enjoyable season, but one where I’ve learned a lot and going into off-season now, it’s like an opportunity to grow even more and come back stronger.
“I’m excited for the future and I wouldn’t say anything’s over there.”
Cleary was asked if it was just as hollow in the dressing room as it was when they lost the 2020 Grand Final.
“Just as hollow, it’s a horrible feeling,” Cleary said.
The Panthers blew a 14-point lead to go down in a thriller, but Cleary senior never felt they had the game won.
“No, I didn’t feel like that,” Cleary said.
“I thought the first half obviously we did some good things that we defended really well. We scored the points when we needed to, but it was never going to be just the way the years gone, particularly their year as well.
“I didn’t feel like we were in control of the whole game. I thought the second half, generally speaking, I thought we were on the back foot quite a bit.
“Then just couldn’t kind of, there was a little moment you needed to get some extra possession and things were going their way, which kind of happens when they looked like they had more fuel in the tank, to be honest.
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“Disappointing result, but we were in there swinging all the way to the end, but ultimately not quite good enough.”
Cleary senior admitted his team looked fatigued, which could have something to do with their long season and long finals series, with the no team winning from outside the top four streak to continue in 2025.
“We definitely looked fatigued in the second half,“ Cleary said.
“They were obviously coming home and coming hard, and there were some little moments there where you get back-to-back sets, where that seemed to happen a lot.
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“And then we had to defend and and when we got the ball back, we just didn’t seem to have, we couldn’t do enough and we’re under pressure again. That’s how it felt.”
Cleary admitted a call to give Scott Sorensen a category one concussion when he passed his HIA was frustrating and hurt their bench rotation after he was rubbed out of the game in the second minute.
“It’s a huge call, especially when he passes his HIA,” Cleary said.
“I don’t know, tough moment, makes life a bit harder, for sure.”
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Cleary junior denied the Panthers panicked after blowing a big lead, but believes the team will be better for their experiences this season.
“I wouldn’t say panic, I think it was just a game filled with fatigue and that game sort of reminded me a lot of last year’s Grand Final,” Cleary junior said.
“It was just like too and fro, too and for and there wasn’t a lot of attacking shapes going on it was just all through the middle and I thought the difference last year and probably over the last four years is we were in positions to save tries and we actually saved them where tonight we probably didn’t do that for all their tries.
“I thought we were there or there abouts to make a play and we didn’t do it and unfortunately that’s probably been the story of our season, particularly in the second halves.
“We just sort of let teams back in it and we knew the Broncos were going to come home strong and it’s disappointing because we had opportunities to kick ahead in the second half attacking their line but again fatigue plays a big role in that and it’s frustrating but it’s something to reflect on and get better.”
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