Ivan Cleary admitted he has “never felt so under the pump” in the course of the Broncos’ cost whereas Nathan Cleary revealed classes from the 2020 grand remaining impressed his efficiency for the ages.
The Panthers went down 24-8 within the second half, with Broncos younger gun Ezra Mam beautiful the reigning premiers with a hattrick of tries.
That left Penrith with 24 minutes to reel in Kevin Walters facet and spark the best ever grand remaining comeback in NRL historical past.
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But even Cleary wasn’t satisfied his facet may get the job achieved.
“I’ve never felt so under the pump for ages as we were in that second half,” Cleary mentioned within the post-match press convention.
“The Broncos probably had the better of at least the middle part of the game and deserved to be in that lead.
“Over the course of this last few years we’ve won enough games and built enough belief that when we get our momentum going, and getting our game on, good things will happen.
“But I will admit, I was a little worried halfway through that second half.”
Cleary was requested level clean if he thought his facet had given up the prospect at recording an elusive three-peat when Mam crossed for his third four-pointer.
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“A fairly big part of me was leaning that way, one thing I never doubted was these boy’s ability to keep fighting,” Cleary mentioned.
“It’s just one of those games where you get one back and things can change, there was still a long time to go and I think that was an important part.
“Once they hit the front and we started coming back they probably didn’t play as much footy as they were, (before that) they were just zinging it around the park.”
Meanwhile, Nathan delivered one of many all-time nice grand remaining performances and mirrored on what led him to this second.
The first grand remaining the Panthers featured in throughout their dream run got here in 2020, going through a red-hot Storm outfit.
On that evening, Melbourne’s superstars Cameron Smith, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster blew a younger Penrith outfit off the park.
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By halftime, Cleary’s group trailed 22-0 and impressively clawed the scoreline again to 26-20 after 80 minutes.
“It was nice to finish on a high, to be honest I think my experience from the past, particularly that 2020 Storm grand final, helped me to be in the game at the end,” Cleary mentioned.
“Sometimes things feel s**t at the time like it did in the 2020 grand final, but I think it’s made me who I am today.”
He was requested if he felt “rattled” after the Broncos took a commanding lead, and he admitted he remained calm this yr.
“I wouldn’t say rattled, I would say disappointed with what I was doing, I mention that 2020 grand final again, I was rattled that night,” Cleary mentioned.
“I think that has helped me in moments like tonight, I thought our belief and chat behind the line.”
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