Nathan Cleary has the first whinge of his career. It’s part of a grand plan

“Tell the truth,” Ivan Cleary sidemouthed to his son late on Thursday night.

The dust had just about settled on Melbourne’s thrilling golden point win, though Nathan Cleary was still burning over the penalty that took away his match-winning field goal.

Nothing like having dad there to keep you honest in a parent-teacher interview.

With measured tones, extensive hand movements, logic and a breakdown of NRL rules, Nathan delivered the closest thing to a whinge or rant in his 10 years of first grade.

He finished on more or less the same note as Ivan, that Harry Grant “was too clever at both ends of the field” and Penrith weren’t good enough for a 10th straight win.

Truth is, there was plenty in Thursday’s gruelling hit-out against Melbourne to point to yet another grand final rendezvous. And the Panthers have yet another brick to add to the wall, slowly but surely being built around their premiership defence.

Colleagues Michael Chammas and Danny Weidler followed the breadcrumbs of Penrith’s growing siege mentality earlier this week on The Journos podcast - an accurate and slightly incredible prospect for a four-time defending champion side to be adopting a war footing.

Even in the early months of 2025, when Penrith were slowly slumping to outright last on the ladder, some players and staff members were keeping receipts. Particularly unflattering or what was perceived as unfair media coverage was noted and stored away.

More publicly, the searing spotlight on trainer Corey Bocking’s ill-fated run in front of Jayden Campbell’s conversion shot raised hackles out west.

Ivan Cleary noted the NRL’s five-match ban for Bocking and the club’s $50,000 fine was longer than any suspension stemming from an on-field incident this year. “Ostracised” was how he described Bocking’s fate.

Back-rower Luke Garner pointed to “tall poppy syndrome” at play in the saga, an element that has no doubt played a part in previous distaste with Penrith’s winning ways.

Cleary’s call for a rule change when asked about rugby league’s latest 24-hour outrage – attacking players being tackled in the air – left Craig Bellamy unimpressed during the week.

That to and fro was all about Xavier Coates’ dominance in the air. Penrith wants it shut down, and Melbourne needs to keep it.

As Grant defended his milking of the game-changing penalty by running into Moses Leota, he suggested Penrith might want to look at their previous field goal set-ups and the presence of illegal blockers in front of Cleary.

An “us against them” undercurrent serves especially well in the combative, collision-based world of rugby league, and the Panthers have worked it as well as any throughout their dynasty.

Potshots at their perceived arrogance have been worn as a badge by players in previous years, and returned in the best way possible – by being too damn good.

This year’s run up the premiership mountain is new territory, but their 2021 title bore on and off-field hallmarks to this season as well.

Trainer Pete Green was banned during the finals for stopping play at a critical point against Parramatta to attend to an injured Mitch Kenny. That, and four other incidents involving trainers in the past five years, contributed significantly to Bocking’s punishment.

Penrith were a walking wounded bunch that year, and famously kept broken feet and digits, ruptured tendons and torn muscles all in-house - only revealing after their grand final win that Dylan Edwards, James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota and Brian To’o had no right to be playing, let alone winning a title.

As the most important forward in the game in terms of his team’s attacking blueprint, skipper Isaah Yeo’s return from a shoulder injury holds the key to Penrith’s premiership tilt.

Former players who have had their shoulders shoved the wrong way wince and tell you Yeo’s awkward fall against the Titans could be worse than the Panthers are letting on.

Little is being given away by the premiers on their talismanic lock, though To’o told reporters this week that the thought of Yeo being in pain was making him emotional, so please stop asking.

Against a Storm side without Jahrome Hughes, Ryan Papenhuyzen, and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Penrith’s line speed was rapid throughout the first half and suffocated the NRL’s most dangerous attacking side.

To think both sides went 13 minutes without a stoppage after half-time is unheard of in the modern game – a four- or five-minute stretch is enough to gas most teams.

To think Melbourne prevailed in that exchange, courtesy of a pass Blaize Talagi shouldn’t have thrown for Xavier Coates’ intercept, was a significant fillip for the southern side.

Almost 12 months ago to the day, Melbourne came away from Penrith with a critical late-season win where Cleary was injured and To’o was successfully targeted under the high ball.

By grand final day, the Panthers had recalibrated, worked out how to protect To’o against the high-flying Coates and outlasted their way to yet another title.

As Roy Masters noted in a lengthy profile of Ivan Cleary earlier this year, young Storm players were shocked at the sprays they copped from Sunia Turuva and Liam Martin, among others, after each try Penrith scored that night.

Cleary made no apologies for the sledging, telling Masters that “we learnt a lot from the 2020 grand final (against Melbourne), including a lot of stuff that happened off the ball.”

On the field, Penrith have another premiership in them. Off it, they’re ready to into premiership mode again.

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