The worst part about it all is that both Clearys have been vindicated. Ivan can obviously coach, but also obviously he needs the cattle and the recruitment/development legwork done by others.
Ivan was only modestly successful at Penrith the first time, also not particularly successful at Warriors or Tigers. Pretty ballsy move to go back to the club that already sacked you once before... and I struggle to think of many instances where a sacked coach is re-hired by that club (Tigers staring down the barrel of doing the same thing).
I also was hopeful Nathan Cleary might sign with Tigers, and at that point he was a mostly unproven junior halfback. It's ballsy of Penrith also to bet the house on the player, to placate their junior halfback and add stability to the roster, by headhunting a coach you previously decided could not do the job.
So it's particularly annoying that it all worked out for Penrith so rosily and that they are vindicated in their risk-taking. Similarly galling that Roosters manoeuvred to sign both Tedesco and Cronk and win consecutive premierships, when Cronk could have lent his support to a struggling club rather than an already-established heavyweight.
First time I met Pascoe in 2020 I asked him about that, about how it must irritate him how well Cleary was doing with Penrith (after the first-year stumble in 2019). He said something like "mate you have no idea".
