The big questions Ivan Cleary has to answer in 2019

Ivan Cleary took next to no time to turn the Wests Tigers into a gritty defensive unit and the Panthers should be no exception in 2019. This, coupled with their incredible young talent, bodes well for a big year. They reached the semi-finals in a reasonably successful season last year, but endured immense turmoil to make it as far after head coach Anthony Griffin was sacked weeks out from the finals. Rumours persisted he was on the way out all season, and despite dips in form and swirling speculation,
they finished with a flourish but were ultimately bundled out in the second week. Imagine what they can do with stability. The famously cool Cleary has one major decision to make heading into the season ahead — who plays fullback? Rising star Dylan Edwards has showed his attacking nous across the past few seasons despite playing just 25 NRL games. We predict he will unseat New Zealand fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for the No.1 spot — although a case could be made for either. However, the biggest issue Cleary faces is how to quickly develop the burgeoning forward pack as depth is sure to become an issue around State of Origin time — particularly if there are a few injuries along the way.

He hasn’t coached for 20 years: Griffin breaks silence

Despite Penrith sitting fifth on the ladder at the time, the club decided to sack coach Anthony Griffin.It was turned out to be just one of a number of coaching upheavals in the NRL this year, but this axing was quite extraordinary given that the club were headed for finals footy.Panthers supremo Phil Gould believed Griffin couldn’t take the team to the next level because of his “old school” approach.Griffin was able to have his say in an exclusive interview on Fox League’s NRL 360 where he fired this one back at Gould: “He hasn’t coached for 20 years. He hasn’t had his head in the fire for 20 years.“If there’s anyone old school in the conversation — if I’m in the conversation about being old school, he’d need to be there as well.”

Panthers: 2019 Round 1 predicted team

Penrith Panthers: 2019 Round 1 predicted team: Dylan Edwards,Josh Mansour, Dean Whare, Waqa Blake, Dallin Watene-Zeleniak, James Maloney, Nathan Cleary, Reagan
 Campbell-Gillard, Sione Katoa, James Tamou, Viliame Kikau, Isaah Yeo, James Fisher-Harris, Wayde Egan, Tyrell Fuimaono, Jack Hetherington, Moses Leota

Ivan Cleary open to making son Panthers captain, talks rumoured Phil Gould rift

Come-again Penrith coach Ivan Cleary says he will happily anoint his son Nathan captain of the Panthers if the NSW Origin halfback proves he's the man for the job.While 21-year-old Nathan shied away from leadership talk last week – telling reporters "I think that'll be a bit of favouritism" – his father isn't opposed to handing him the reins."If the day comes where he should be the captain, then he should be," Cleary said at a media conference on Saturday."I don't think it's at this point yet. There's going to be some things [with] our relationship that we probably don't know exactly how that's going to pan out, but we're pretty open that that's going to happen and we'll just deal with it."I believe he's got leadership potential for sure,
but that'll be down the track somewhere and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it if we need to."Cleary said Penrith are in no rush to name a skipper for 2019 but pointed to James Maloney, Isaah Yeo and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak as the leading candidates."We haven't necessarily got a logical choice. We're not rushing into that decision and we're keen to see players leading in the absences of leadership at the moment," Cleary said."... I just want to get a feel for the squad and how it all works together and we'll make that decision later on."The former Wests Tigers mentor also rubbished suggestions that his relationship with Panthers boss Phil Gould is strained.

Penrith Panthers NRL 2019 Draw

Teams they play twice: Eels, Knights, Wests Tigers, Titans, Sharks, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Warriors, Roosters.

Teams they play once: Storm, Sea Eagles, Dragons, Bulldogs, Broncos, Cowboys.

Day-by-day breakdown: Thursday - Three, Friday - Ten, Saturday - Six, Sunday – Five.

Five-day turnarounds: 0.

Kick-off: After being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, Penrith’s campaign to go further in 2019 will begin with three out of their first four matches on home turf, including a round-three sojourn to their west against the Storm in Bathurst. They also play three teams in the opening month who didn’t make last year’s playoffs so they have a golden opportunity to reverse their recent trend of slow starts to the season.