Ivan Cleary isn’t taking any credit for Penrith’s spectacular form U-turn, although he would now like to introduce some panache to their proven grit.
Six weeks after their demoralising home loss to the Warriors left them at the bottom of the heap, Cleary’s men are basking in a five-game unbeaten run including Sunday’s stunning fightback to beat the Kiwi club 19-18 in Auckland.
Cleary says the pluck required to fight back from a series of questionable referee decisions and a scoreline of 16-6 against them on Sunday encapsulates their campaign’s turnaround.
Explaining their resurrection isn’t easy for Cleary, who insists he did nothing different to inspire his players after their May 17 nadir.
“I haven’t done anything. The boys have worked out that teamwork is the essence of playing good rugby league,” he said.
“Sometimes you’ve got to hit the bottom to be able to bounce back up and we definitely had bottomed out (against the Warriors). We were probably ready to be put down at that point.”
A bye next week is followed by seven straight games against teams sitting outside the top six, opening the prospect of Penrith forging a path to the finals.
However, Cleary wants them to be more than a grinding side, as has been the case for the last month.
All of their seven wins this season have been by single figure margins. In none of them have they reached 20 points, not helped by an ever-changing backline which has been racked by injuries and player departures.
“We’ve got ourselves back in the hunt and now it’s time to get a better all-rounded game and take some of this confidence and play a bit better,” he said.
“I’m sure we’ve got it in us.”
In-form halfback James Maloney made it a goal to lift his performances for Penrith when he missed NSW selection for the State of Origin opener.
He didn’t forget that attitude when recalled for Origin II.
“It didn’t change just because I played (Origin) last week. I still had to come back and make sure we kept that momentum going,” he said.
“The Origin period needed to be really strong for us and we could actually get this season back on track.”
