Honesty session that inspired Panthers’ crucial win

Jasper Bruce | June 3, 2025

Penrith drew a line in the sand while their superstars were away in State of Origin camp, meeting for an honesty session that helped inspire the crucial win over Parramatta.

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary had publicly called on the squad to begin realising their potential after they suffered their biggest loss of the year to strugglers Newcastle in round 12.

The four-time reigning premiers had sputtered into last place on the ladder and would’ve sat there later in the season than any defending premiers since 1953 if they lost to the Eels in round 13.

Without their five NSW representatives, including Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, hooker Mitch Kenny and the remaining senior players convened the squad for some tough love before the Eels game.

“All of us got together… and put the line in the sand, what needs to be better, especially standards-wise,” centre Casey McLean told AAP.

“It was a player-driven thing. All the boys kind of knew what needed to happen.”

The focus of the heart-to-heart session was to remind the players that results would continue to be lacklustre without a lift in training intensity.

“Just flip that switch at training, just training habits and things like that led into what happened (against the Eels),” McLean said.

Star halfback Cleary noticed the lift in intensity on return from Origin duties, admitting the club’s standards may have slipped during a disappointing 2025 season.

“A few of the boys were talking about how hard the week at training had been,” he said.

“Maybe that’s where we’d been lacking, just dropping our standards a little bit. I thought young guys like Casey were really good.”

McLean had his best game of the year against the Eels, scoring a try and setting one up to help the Panthers to the kind of gritty win that became their trademark in four premiership seasons.

The improved performance was the latest twist in a rollercoaster first 12 months in the NRL for McLean, who was dropped to reserve grade after the round-eight loss to Manly.

Conversations with coach Cleary reassured the 19-year-old during his two weeks out of the NRL team.

“He just says it’s a journey. Not everything’s going to be highs, so you’ve got to ride the lows as well,” McLean said.

“It’s just all learning, you can’t take things as negatives. You’ve got to take everything as a positive, find ways to improve, move forward and this (18-10 win over the Eels) showcases what happens, I suppose.”