Ivan Cleary was born on 1 March 1971 and is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a fullback and centre in the 1990s and 2000s.
24 Facts About Ivan Cleary
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Ivan Cleary is a former head coach of the Wests Tigers and New Zealand Warriors, as well as the four time NRL Premiership winning head coach of the Penrith Panthers, who led the Panthers to four straight premierships in the 2021,2022,2023 and 2024 NRL Grand Finals with the Penrith Panthers, becoming the first coach to do so in the NRL era.
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Ivan Cleary is the father of Panthers' co-captain Nathan Cleary and Auckland-based Warriors halfback Jett Cleary.
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Ivan Cleary grew up in the Sydney Northern Beaches' suburb of Beacon Hill and attended Beacon Hill High School.
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Originally a goal-kicking fullback, Ivan Cleary was a Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles junior before moving to play Reserve Grade with the Sea Eagles in 1992 and 1993.
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Ivan Cleary started his first grade career with the Manly-Warringah club in 1992 playing two games before getting his chance after the team's first choice fullback Matthew Ridge suffered a season-ending injury in mid-1993.
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Ivan Cleary was the team's second choice goal kicker behind Jason Taylor and in 37 games for the Bears he scored 15 tries but kicked only 5 goals for a total of 70 points.
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Ivan Cleary began playing for the Sydney City Roosters from the 1996 ARL season through to the 1999 NRL season making 81 appearances for the tri-colours.
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In 1998, Ivan Cleary was the NRL's top point scorer with 284 points.
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Ivan Cleary signed with the New Zealand Warriors for the 2000 NRL season before the fullback retired at the end of the 2002 NRL season following the club's 2002 NRL Grand Final loss against the Sydney Roosters.
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Ivan Cleary was Sydney's NSWRL Premier League head coach in 2003 and 2004, winning the latter premiership.
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Ivan Cleary returned to New Zealand as assistant coach for the 2005 season.
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In September 2005, Ivan Cleary was appointed as the club's head coach.
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In 2014, Ivan Cleary took Penrith to the preliminary final before losing to Canterbury.
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Ivan Cleary was named Dally M coach of the year in the same season.
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Ivan Cleary was released the following season after avoiding the wooden spoon with a final round victory over Newcastle.
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Ivan Cleary was appointed as the coach of the Wests Tigers on 3 April 2017.
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On 11 August 2018 Ivan Cleary released a prepared statement ending speculation that he would leave the Wests Tigers to coach Penrith.
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Ivan linked with his son Nathan Cleary and began his second stint as head coach at the Penrith Panthers.
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Ivan Cleary's second spell in charge at Penrith got off to a bad start with the club winning only 2 of their first 10 matches leaving the team bottom of the table.
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Ivan Cleary proceeded to wave and blow kisses at the Wests Tigers supporters.
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On 19 October, four years since being sacked as being head coach of the Panthers, Ivan Cleary was named Dally M Coach of the Year for the second time for his efforts of Penrith's 2020 season.
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Ivan Cleary guided Penrith to the 2020 NRL Grand Final on the back of a 17-game unbeaten streak.
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In 2021, Ivan Cleary guided the Penrith club to a comfortable 2nd place, on 44 points.