Cleary future: Panthers to offer father-son duo $13.5m to stay into 2030s

Father-and-son duo Ivan and Nathan Cleary are very clearly the long-term future of the Penrith Panthers, club powerbrokers have declared, and the team is willing to pay $13,500,000 combined to keep them.

The Cleary combo has led the Panthers to three straight NRL premierships, a first for any top-flight club since 1983 and only the fourth time in Australian rugby league history.

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So, it’s a no-brainer the Penrith brass leading recruitment want to keep them for as long as possible, no matter the cost—and according to sources within the club, the gears are already turning on that front. The Sporting Base has heard the Panthers will offer Nathan and Ivan $13,500,000 over five years between 2028 and 2032 to stay.

The split, which everyone is likely very interested in, would see Nathan taking home $1,500,000 a year, while Ivan would get $1,200,000 to helm the team.

That’s on top of the father-son duo’s already locked-in 2025 to 2027 deals.

#NRL whispers ⚫🐾 @PenrithPanthers ready to open talks with Nathan and Ivan Cleary over $13.5 million package to keep them at the foot of the mountains to 2032

Father-son duo are already signed to 2027 but club very eager to lock them down longer

(via @dailytelegraph) pic.twitter.com/PRUWpLjK9o

— The Sporting Base – NRL (@BaseNrl) July 4, 2024

“It’s our intention to have discussions in the near future,” Fletcher told the Daily Telegraph after whispers started leaking earlier this week. “They’re here until 2027, but we’d like to make them lifetime Panthers, coach and player. They’re obvious targets for any new franchise. They’ve been such an integral part of our success.

“With our pathways, we’re hopefully set up for the long term, but you still want and need the best coach and best player leading us.”

If Ivan took up the deal he could easily crack 300 games at the helm for the Panthers, having already led them in 139 matches. Nathan, meanwhile, has already made 164 appearances for the Panthers and could play as many as 200 more on this deal.

“There’s no risk for Penrith in signing them both long-term,” George Mimis, who is Nathan’s agent and one of the former advisers for Ivan Cleary, told the Tele at the same time.

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The Base understands neither Ivan nor Nathan have seen any formal paperwork yet.