Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary couldn’t control his emotions in a heart-warming farewell jersey presentation to Jarome Luai on the eve of the grand final.
Inside their Parramatta hotel on the night before the decider, Cleary presented his players with their grand final jersey.
Cleary managed to keep his emotions in check until he got to Luai, who will depart the club after the premiership decider against the Melbourne Storm and head to the Wests Tigers.
Cleary has known Luai for more than a decade and watched him progress through the club’s juniors alongside son Nathan Cleary from when they were 14.
Cleary spoke about his pride in Luai’s journey from a boy to a man, including the satisfaction he has taken from watching him become the husband and father he has.
It’s been a turbulent year for Cleary and Luai, who took exception to comments made by his coach when asked about the prospect of potentially losing his star five-eighth.
Ivan Cleary and Jarome Luai.Credit: NRL Photos
Cleary, at the time, said rival clubs would be taking a risk if they offered Luai more than $1 million a season to be their chief playmaker, given his inexperience in the No.7 role.
Luai’s not-so-cryptic “know your worth” post on Instagram the next morning spoke to his heartbreak and recently admitted he felt betrayed by the coach in the months leading up to his $6 million defection to the Tigers.
“When he first said that, I thought it was a shot at me,” he said. “But I think it was a way for him to sort of try and fend off other clubs. It was his strategy to try and keep me at the club. We laugh about it now. It’s all part of the journey, man. Footy’s a business, at the end of the day.
“If it was up to ‘Coach’, he would give us all what we’re worth. That’s just the nature of the salary cap, unfortunately. He was just doing his best, in a way, as well. So I don’t resent him in any way, shape or form. I’m just trying to love my rest of the time at the club. The last ride, bra.”
Jarome Luai and coach Ivan Cleary after Penrith’s 2023 grand final triumph.Credit: Getty
Luai also took a couple of days off training at the end of last year after this masthead reported he had informed Cleary that he was leaving the club for the Tigers.
The playmaker was disappointed the news of his departure made its way to the media before informing his teammates.
Panthers Samoans pull the pin
Two of Penrith’s grand final stars are unlikely to play in Samoa’s end-of-season Test series against England in the United Kingdom.
There has been plenty of conjecture over players making themselves ineligible for Test football after Kalyn Ponga withdrew – and then recommitted – from Australia’s Pacific Championships campaign.
Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton, Brian To’o and Spencer Leniu playing for Samoa at the 2022 World Cup.Credit: Getty Images
This column has been told that Brian To’o and Izack Tago have opted not to play. So too former teammate Stephen Crichton, who gets married the day before the team is due to fly out to England on October 18.
Luai, who will join the Wests Tigers next year, is desperate to represent his country again and will play for Samoa in the two-Test series.
World Club Challenge headache
When the NRL sent out the term sheet to the four Las Vegas teams a couple of months ago, the contract included an interesting clause.
Jake Wardle dives for the tryline as Brian To’o tries to hold the Wigan player up in this year’s World Club Challenge.Credit: Getty
The NRL wanted the Panthers, Sharks, Warriors and Raiders to agree to travelling to England for the World Club Challenge on their way to the United States if any of them won the NRL premiership.
The Sharks, Warriors and Raiders didn’t hesitate signing the contract. The Panthers, however, refused to do so. They had the contract amended and said they would only play the World Club Challenge in Australia on their way to Las Vegas.
Given the heavy workload and travel schedule over the past few years, and the impact of last year’s World Club Challenge loss to Wigan, you can understand why the Panthers were reluctant to commit to a month on the road in the lead up to next season.
Wigan, who will play in Las Vegas against Sam Burgess’ Warrington Wolves, play in next week’s Super League grand final against Hull KR.
Panthers not in the pink
Unfortunately, the Panthers haven’t been able to financially capitalise on the unique situation of wearing their pink jersey in a grand final for the first time.
All pink Panthers jerseys were sold out at the start of the week. The turnaround time to produce a jersey is around eight weeks. The Panthers only realised they were a chance of wearing their pink jersey in the grand final a month ago.
The Storm, being the highest-ranked team, got to select their preferred jersey for the grand final and their predominantly purple kit wasn’t a strong enough contrast to Penrith’s preferred black jersey.
Panthers looking pretty in pinkCredit: Getty Images
Penrith were hoping to wear their Pasifika jersey, as they have done all finals series, because of its connection to the team’s secret internal theme.
Virtual lunch
The NRL’s official grand final lunch advertised the attendance of both coaches and captains to those who purchased tickets for the event on Friday.
Unlike most teams, Penrith’s big training day is two days before the game and coach Cleary wasn’t going to change his plans despite the NRL’s best efforts to get him to reschedule his program.
When the Storm learnt that Cleary and son Nathan were both going to make themselves available via video link, Melbourne withdrew themselves from the lunch and had Craig Bellamy and captain Harry Grant joined on a video link despite not training that day.
Delayed joy
In the past two years, the Penrith Panthers have celebrated their respective premiership triumphs over the Parramatta Eels and Brisbane Broncos with their fans at BlueBet Stadium the next morning.
During the week the club decided that this year they would wait until Wednesday to celebrate the premiership with their supporters if they make it four on the trot against the Storm.
Given the late grand final start, the Panthers didn’t arrive back to their Leagues Club until 1.30 am last year. They followed it up with a private celebration at the club’s academy.
The Panthers players at least year’s fan reception.Credit: Getty
By the time they greeted fans at the stadium the following morning, most were worse for wear. The club hoped that by Wednesday the players would be in a better state to avoid the kind of statements that Api Koroisau regretted a couple of years ago.
Blore’s court issue
It’s been a massive year for Shawn Blore, going from a wooden spoon with the Wests Tigers to a grand final for the Storm in the space of 12 months.
He still has an affray charge hanging over his head and is due back in court on October 16. Blore has pleaded not guilty to one count of affray following an alleged incident in the Sydney CBD with his brother Dean on July 8.
Blore is expected to be selected in the Samoan squad, which flies out for their end-of-season Test series against England two days after his court case.
No Koori knockout for Sloan
Tyrell Sloan was a notable absentee from the team sheets at the Koori Knockout over the weekend.
The St George Illawarra fullback was told by coach Shane Flanagan that he didn’t want him risking injury in the tournament given he suffered a hand injury and a syndesmosis injury in the tournament last year that delayed his return to preseason training.
It’s a big off-season for Sloan, who is yet to cement the No.1 jersey at the Dragons despite moments of attacking brilliance in 2024.
It’s a big summer for Tyrell Sloan.Credit: Getty Images
The club is keeping a very close eye on the events surrounding Clint Gutherson and the Parramatta Eels and have the salary cap space to secure his services if the right opportunity presented itself.
The Eels have not tabled Gutherson an extension and he becomes a free agent on November 1.
Munro on the money
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have tabled teenage sensation Tyrone Munro a three-year extension.
Those at the Dally M Medal Awards know how much the club means to him after he poured his heart out while accepting the Provan-Summons Medal just a month after the sudden passing of his mother and uncle.
The Rabbitohs have limited salary cap funds available to them and rival clubs are willing to throw bigger offers on the table when he becomes a free agent on November 1, but there’s no doubt he belongs at his junior club.
Family first
When Kevin Walters hired Trent Barrett as his assistant coach for 2025, he did so by giving the former Eels interim coach his blessing to regularly commute between Wollongong and Brisbane to spend time with his family in NSW.
It will be interesting to see if new coach Michael Maguire, desperate to make an immediate impression in his return to the NRL after a horror four-year stint at the Wests Tigers, honours that arrangement.
Trent Barrett took over from Brad Arthur as Eels interim coach mid-way through the year.
Maguire, while working as Ricky Stuart’s assistant coach at the Raiders a couple of years ago, was regularly going back and forth between Canberra and Sydney to spend time with his family.
It was interesting to hear Gorden Tallis, a close mate of Walters, continue his criticism of Maguire on Triple M on Sunday.
“They sacked Kevvie because he came 12th. In his last few years [at the Tigers] he came ninth, 11th and 13th. They got worse. Then he got the wooden spoon.”
Shoosh
Which rugby league reporter will this time next week be sunning himself on the Greek island of Kythira, the hometown of both Roosters supremo Nick Politis and Peter V’landys.
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