Ivan Cleary has spent the past four years masterminding a dynasty.
Now, he's fronting the sharpest fall from grace the NRL has seen in years and insists the Panthers are still alive despite a five-game losing streak that has them wedged near the bottom of the ladder after just six rounds.
โAbsolutely,โ Cleary said when asked by AAP if Penrith's season could still be salvaged.
But he didn't sugar-coat the state of the reigning premiers, openly acknowledging that for the first time under his watch, the cracks aren't just in the game plan, they're in the collective mindset.
โThere are so many factors that have gone into what's gotten us here, it's certainly more than just technique or tactics,โ he said.
โThere's definitely a psychological element.โ
Last week's flat display against the Dolphins was the most confronting yet.
The Panthers conceded soft tries with little pressure applied, a concept foreign to a side that once suffocated opponents for 80 minutes.
That passive defence, Cleary says, rippled through their entire performance.
โThe weekend's game was the first time I felt like we were conceding tries when there's no obvious pressure on us,โ he said.
โIt was the first time it affected the rest of our game, it also put pressure on our attack.โ
The coach has reason to be stunned. From 2020 to 2024, Penrith became synonymous with scoreboard strangulation.
Their early leads were almost terminal: they won 89 of 95 games when leading at halftime.
Even when their structure briefly cracked, they were rarely caught.
But 2025 has brought a cold reversal. Penrith have scored first only once this season and led at halftime in just two games.
In five losses, they've spent barely 20 minutes in front during the opening 40.
Compare that to the end of last year, when they led for over 100 minutes across five first halves, and the decline is stark.
Mitch Kenny didn't dance around the issue.
โThe glaring stat is we're dropping the ball too much,โ the Panthers hooker said.
โWe're conceding a silly amount of errors ... second-most in the comp.โ
That lack of control has broken the Panthers' ability to dictate terms, denying them the long, brutal grinds that previously wore opponents out.
โWe're just not giving ourselves a chance to play that footy that we like to play,โ Kenny said.
โGetting teams in long grinds and backing our fitness. We're just not taking teams to the deep end at the moment.โ
Cleary hasn't lost belief, but he knows there's no shortcut back to the top. His tone has shifted from tactical to philosophical.
After riding the wave of success that brought four straight premierships - something no club has done in the modern era - he's now embracing the other side of the cycle.
โNo team has ever done what we've done, so there's no reference point other than just to go through it,โ he said.
โWe've had some ridiculously good times... sometimes when you think of it, it's a little unfair that we've had so many good times.โ
โI definitely wasn't lying in bed thinking about losing five in a row,โ he added.
โThe wheel turns and it's our turn to experience some of the downsides of what we do.โ
But despite the slump, there's no sign of panic.
โI'm really confident it's going to happen,โ Cleary said.
โI just can't quite tell you when.โ
