{"id":223277,"date":"2025-09-13T10:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223277\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T10:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:06:09","slug":"penrith-panthers-post-match-press-conference-ivan-cleary-tribute-to-new-zealand-warriors-finals-news-videos-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223277\/","title":{"rendered":"Penrith Panthers post-match press conference, Ivan Cleary, tribute to New Zealand, Warriors finals, news, videos, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ivan Cleary has delivered a touching tribute to the Warriors, labelling New Zealand his \u201csecond home\u201d after downing Andrew Webster\u2019s side in an elimination final.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleary coached the Warriors across 154 games between 2006 and 2011, having also played 53 games for the club across a three-year stint which ended in 2002.<\/p>\n

He found success with the New Zealand club, leading them to a grand final in 2011, which they ultimately lost against the Sea Eagles before he joined the Panthers for his first stint.<\/p>\n

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Speaking after Penrith dumped the Warriors out of the 2025 finals series, Cleary paid tribute to team that holds a special place in his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it here, I would call it my second home. I do feel a little bit sad for the Warriors community,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you should be really proud of the great season, certainly had some things go against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing Mitch Barnett and (Luke) Metcalf are huge losses, right at the wrong time so they\u2019ve been really brave since and should definitely think it\u2019s a good season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of promise within this club. They will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary’s big-game brilliance on display | 03:04<\/p>\n

Webster was also one of Cleary\u2019s assistants at Penrith before he was handed an opportunity to take over as Warriors head coach in 2023.<\/p>\n

Cleary\u2019s son, Jett, also is in his first season of a three-year contract which sees him earn a promotion to the NRL squad in 2027.<\/p>\n

The Panthers mentor was also quizzed on rising star Leka Halasima, after the gun back rower scored the only try for the Warriors on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a few of the boys talk about how hard he is to tackle, he\u2019s obviously a bit of a genetic freak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s more than that, he looks like a pretty smart player and he\u2019s just one of many, that\u2019s what I mean. There\u2019s a lot of good players coming through.<\/p>\n

JFH & Leota rivalry gets SPICY | 00:30<\/p>\n

MORE NRL NEWS<\/b><\/p>\n

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MATTY AND CRONK FINAL VERDICT: Panthers\u2019 blueprint as former star holds key<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cup team has just destroyed that competition to this point. They\u2019d be disappointed to end their season early, but there\u2019s plenty of green shoots ahead for this club.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers now face the Bulldogs in a crucial semi final, coming up against a host of familiar faces in Cameron Ciraldo and Matt Burton.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk about tough road games, at least we don\u2019t have to travel. We will be going into a big house at Accor Stadium next week,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a team that has been right at the top all season, full of superstars and that\u2019s what you expect from finals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ivan Cleary has delivered a touching tribute to the Warriors, labelling New Zealand his \u201csecond home\u201d after downing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[121124,33383,121126,121121,121135,121123,121132,121120,38801,121127,815,121129,34225,121138,121131,121133,121130,121136,121137,121139,23133,33378,121119,121134,159,121125,121128,121122,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-223277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-andrew-webster","9":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","10":"tag-boys-talk","11":"tag-cameron-ciraldo","12":"tag-cooper-cronk","13":"tag-elimination-final","14":"tag-elimination-finals","15":"tag-finals-series","16":"tag-fox-league","17":"tag-genetic-freak","18":"tag-genetics","19":"tag-grand-final","20":"tag-head-coach","21":"tag-hyped-clash","22":"tag-ivan-cleary","23":"tag-james-fisher-harris","24":"tag-key-pass-looking","25":"tag-kieran-foran","26":"tag-mitch-barnett","27":"tag-moses-leota","28":"tag-new-zealand","29":"tag-oceania","30":"tag-penrith-panthers","31":"tag-post-match-press-conference","32":"tag-science","33":"tag-touching-tribute","34":"tag-tough-road-games","35":"tag-try-seals","36":"tag-united-states","37":"tag-unitedstates","38":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}