Ivan Cleary

[Telltails]

I think he did alright while he had his mind on the job. Was never a fan of his signings, from the get go but we did put together some good performances - beat the Roosters for the first time in years. Lost me when the focus became more about Nathan, and his obsession about coaching him. As soon as Griffin was sacked he was lost to us and it was so obvious. Now can't bear to listen to anything he has got to say, and realize he is definitely not the coach we needed.

 

[Geo]

Giving this guy air is a waste of oxygen..

 

[Nelson]

Giving this guy air is a waste of oxygen..

Not if you give him deoxygenated air - that might actually shut him up...

 

[supercoach]

In the intro to the interview you were given the impression that this was going to be a torrid exchange between Cleary and Kent. In reality it was a fizzer.

Cleary was exposed big time when he gave three different accounts of the tunnel incident yet Kent did not hammer him. I think what really gets to me is, he portrays this mr nice guy image but we all know he is rotten to the core..and that constant smirk on his dial.

In my books he is in the hall of slime.. with Glenn Morrison and Mitchell Mosses

 

[Furious1]

The Morrison,Moses,Cleary dunnies at the Northern end of Leichhardt?

 

[Moh]

@supercoach Haha yup - Kent put the gloves away for sure. He just left it at 'I don't agree with your version of the story' and stopped pressing.

Definitely a fizzer.

 

[the_scene]

Watching him uncomfortably wiggling. squirming and blatantly lying on live tv was highly satisfying. I almost sparked up a cigarette afterwards

 

[TheDaBoss]

Giving this guy air is a waste of oxygen..

Not if you give him deoxygenated air - that might actually shut him up...

even thinking about him is a waste of brain space

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

@TheDaBoss at the time absolutely in hindsight no i think brooks is just as good

 

[Spud_Murphy]

People on FB and Twitter are generally unhappy about everything.

That's my point exactly. There is a lot of media noise nowadays and if you selectively listen to parts of it, you will hear only what you already think.

Take anything at all, any concept or review or opinion and almost all of those that are digested are either totally in agreement with your own, or totally opposite. For example, if you read product reviews on Amazon, the most easily available and the most likely searched for are the 5-star or 1-star ratings. On metacritic, it is the >90% or the <50% reviews. Nobody goes looking for "the middle" opinion, the "ok" opinion. Average Joe doesn't even write or post about something average, they only speak up if they love it or loathe it.

So yeah not at all surprised that @Cultured_Bogan can find lots of folks online who are disenfranchised. It's probably always been true that a significant proportion of League followers are falling away from the game, as new supporters come in. But in decades past, you didn't really hear about all the individual opinions. E.g. where are all the North Sydney supporters now? I am sure tens to perhaps hundreds of thousands of Bears supporters got pretty disenfranchised around 2000, but nobody was really listening in back then.

I personally am not disenfranchised with the NRL at all and I consciously avoid too much social media to try keep the bitching to a minimum. I focus on the actual matches played, and in that respect modern technology helps me connect with on-field action like never before.

And when we specifically talk about examples of "poor administration" by the NRL, things are offered up:
- failure to grow game in country, sometimes questionable support for international game
- potential salary cap issues, underhanded club deals, haves and have-nots
- perceived favouritism
- inconsistent decision-making in judiciary and refereeing

Probably all true to some extent.

But does one simultaneously balance those negatives with the known positives of the administration?
- Men of League and Beyond Blue
- NRL community programs - State of Mind, Voice Against Violence, School To work, League in Harmony
- Brain Cancer round
- Club engagement with schools
- New Women's NRL and rep competition, annual women's round
- Growth of Pacific Is footy and elevation of Tonga to Tier 1
- Indigenous round and All Stars match
- Amalgamation and oversight of Australia-wide touch football
- NRL active support of inclusivity, e.g. Macklemore, same-sex marriage statement, Israel Folau statement
- NRL concussion protocols and ongoing player safety
- RLPA bargaining agreement
- Largest ever TV deal
- NSW Govt investment in 3 state-of-art Rugby League stadiums
- Consistently top-rating Finals, Grand Final and Origin TV viewership
- Monopoly over Pay-TV highest rated programs
- Investment in NRL.com and match streaming technologies in partnership w Telstra and Foxtel
etc.

I don't deny that the NRL either founded or support great initiatives, and I'm fully aware of most of the above.

At the end of the day, it is a byproduct of the game though. While the product suffers (via administration,) all those positives are less significant.

You're happy with the organisation, and I am aware that you're not the only one. I'm not claiming that social media is solely an echo chamber for the disenfranchised, plenty love the game as much as ever and that's great for them (and you.) I'm not, and there's plenty like me. I love my club and will continue to support them, but the administration has lost me as an avid fan of the wider game.


I’m with you CB. The administration adopts a reactive, inconsistent approach to running the game. It is ‘knee jerk’ and amateurish. Greenberg is tepid at best. He makes strong statements to fuel his ego and underlying insecurities and then does not follow through.
I am a lost cause in that I love the game no matter what - even though it drives me nuts. However, nearly everyone I speak to in my circle of family/friends/colleagues is less interested in the game because of:
- player poor behaviour
- inept refereeing
- perceived favouritism.
Governance needs to change or they’ll be no elite game to govern!

It’s the favouritism and unfairness of it all that irritates me. For many reasons that are ignored by those who could change them, clubs aren’t on a level playing field in their quest to win the comp anymore, and that’s just plain wrong, imo.

For all we know the favouritism may have always been there, but It’s so blatant now, they’re just not hiding it anymore. There are too many people, across the league spectrum, noticing it and speaking up about it now for it to just be one man’s conspiracy theory or a bunch disgruntled supporters having an unwarranted whinge.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

People on FB and Twitter are generally unhappy about everything.

That's my point exactly. There is a lot of media noise nowadays and if you selectively listen to parts of it, you will hear only what you already think.

Take anything at all, any concept or review or opinion and almost all of those that are digested are either totally in agreement with your own, or totally opposite. For example, if you read product reviews on Amazon, the most easily available and the most likely searched for are the 5-star or 1-star ratings. On metacritic, it is the >90% or the <50% reviews. Nobody goes looking for "the middle" opinion, the "ok" opinion. Average Joe doesn't even write or post about something average, they only speak up if they love it or loathe it.

So yeah not at all surprised that @Cultured_Bogan can find lots of folks online who are disenfranchised. It's probably always been true that a significant proportion of League followers are falling away from the game, as new supporters come in. But in decades past, you didn't really hear about all the individual opinions. E.g. where are all the North Sydney supporters now? I am sure tens to perhaps hundreds of thousands of Bears supporters got pretty disenfranchised around 2000, but nobody was really listening in back then.

I personally am not disenfranchised with the NRL at all and I consciously avoid too much social media to try keep the bitching to a minimum. I focus on the actual matches played, and in that respect modern technology helps me connect with on-field action like never before.

And when we specifically talk about examples of "poor administration" by the NRL, things are offered up:
- failure to grow game in country, sometimes questionable support for international game
- potential salary cap issues, underhanded club deals, haves and have-nots
- perceived favouritism
- inconsistent decision-making in judiciary and refereeing

Probably all true to some extent.

But does one simultaneously balance those negatives with the known positives of the administration?
- Men of League and Beyond Blue
- NRL community programs - State of Mind, Voice Against Violence, School To work, League in Harmony
- Brain Cancer round
- Club engagement with schools
- New Women's NRL and rep competition, annual women's round
- Growth of Pacific Is footy and elevation of Tonga to Tier 1
- Indigenous round and All Stars match
- Amalgamation and oversight of Australia-wide touch football
- NRL active support of inclusivity, e.g. Macklemore, same-sex marriage statement, Israel Folau statement
- NRL concussion protocols and ongoing player safety
- RLPA bargaining agreement
- Largest ever TV deal
- NSW Govt investment in 3 state-of-art Rugby League stadiums
- Consistently top-rating Finals, Grand Final and Origin TV viewership
- Monopoly over Pay-TV highest rated programs
- Investment in NRL.com and match streaming technologies in partnership w Telstra and Foxtel
etc.

I don't deny that the NRL either founded or support great initiatives, and I'm fully aware of most of the above.

At the end of the day, it is a byproduct of the game though. While the product suffers (via administration,) all those positives are less significant.

You're happy with the organisation, and I am aware that you're not the only one. I'm not claiming that social media is solely an echo chamber for the disenfranchised, plenty love the game as much as ever and that's great for them (and you.) I'm not, and there's plenty like me. I love my club and will continue to support them, but the administration has lost me as an avid fan of the wider game.


I’m with you CB. The administration adopts a reactive, inconsistent approach to running the game. It is ‘knee jerk’ and amateurish. Greenberg is tepid at best. He makes strong statements to fuel his ego and underlying insecurities and then does not follow through.
I am a lost cause in that I love the game no matter what - even though it drives me nuts. However, nearly everyone I speak to in my circle of family/friends/colleagues is less interested in the game because of:
- player poor behaviour
- inept refereeing
- perceived favouritism.
Governance needs to change or they’ll be no elite game to govern!


It’s the favouritism and unfairness of it all that irritates me. For many reasons that are ignored by those who could change them, clubs aren’t on a level playing field in their quest to win the comp anymore, and that’s just plain wrong, imo.

For all we know the favouritism may have always been there, but It’s so blatant now, they’re just not hiding it anymore. There are too many people, across the league spectrum, noticing it and speaking up about it now for it to just be one man’s conspiracy theory or a bunch disgruntled supporters having an unwarranted whinge.

I agree. The Inglis favouritism one recent example, the Sam burgess decision another.

 

[Zach]

anyobdy have the original article available to copy and paste on here?

 

[Tim Sheens]

He is a liar, says whatever he thinks will appease the person questioning. Makes it up as he goes.

We dodged a MASSIVE bullet though....Nathan Cleary is on a million a year and has had MORE ball than ANY half in the comp in the opposition 20 all year...

More attacking ball than any 7 all year....and has SIX try assists.

Stop and think about that. He lacks the ability to put guys into holes and overlaps. SIX try assists.

By way of comparison, Brooks has 13..and people on here hammer Brooks....he has 13 v 6...!!!

Slimey Moses, with similar ball to Cleary, has 20.

If we had of got Ivan and Nathan for five years, we would have been absolutely screwed.

Yep, was happy to keep Brooks when all this traitor's son crap was going on last year and thankful to still have him. If junior couldn't kick well, you wouldn't even feed him as a half and thought the Blues looked much better with Pearce running the show.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Watching him uncomfortably wiggling. squirming and blatantly lying on live tv was highly satisfying. I almost sparked up a cigarette afterwards

I'll have what he is having.

 

[OzLuke]

He couldn't give any straight answers, and the way he held himself was like he was trying to make lies up on the run, and to me it looked like he was holding his breath while he was talking which is a sign he was telling porky pies...made him look nervous. He looked like a real whimpering buffoon. And to harp on about his integrity being questioned....please

We're well shot of him and his dealings....

 

[TIGER]

Just watched a clip of him n nrl360 whinging about what Kent said about him.

Why would a coach at this point in the season with his team where it's sitting on the ladder go out of his way to contact Kent and want to appear on TV to tell everyone he's not happy about what Kent said about him?

Go coach Ivan, if you don't like what Jurno's say about you nobody is holding a gun to your head to read it.

 

[OzLuke]

Just watched a clip of him n nrl360 whinging about what Kent said about him.

Why would a coach at this point in the season with his team where it's sitting on the ladder go out of his way to contact Kent and want to appear on TV to tell everyone he's not happy about what Kent said about him?

Go coach Ivan, if you don't like what Jurno's say about you nobody is holding a gun to your head to read it.

He's not happy about having his integrity besmirched......the man has scruples..... 😱

 

[tigerap]

Just watched a clip of him n nrl360 whinging about what Kent said about him.

Why would a coach at this point in the season with his team where it's sitting on the ladder go out of his way to contact Kent and want to appear on TV to tell everyone he's not happy about what Kent said about him?

Go coach Ivan, if you don't like what Jurno's say about you nobody is holding a gun to your head to read it.

He's not happy about having his integrity besmirched......the man has scruples..... 😱

I would love to know what Gus REALLY thinks of Iv right now..

 

[OzLuke]

Just watched a clip of him n nrl360 whinging about what Kent said about him.

Why would a coach at this point in the season with his team where it's sitting on the ladder go out of his way to contact Kent and want to appear on TV to tell everyone he's not happy about what Kent said about him?

Go coach Ivan, if you don't like what Jurno's say about you nobody is holding a gun to your head to read it.

He's not happy about having his integrity besmirched......the man has scruples..... 😱


I would love to know what Gus REALLY thinks of Iv right now..

I would say he thinks he is a squid

 

[TYGA]

Just watched a clip of him n nrl360 whinging about what Kent said about him.

Why would a coach at this point in the season with his team where it's sitting on the ladder go out of his way to contact Kent and want to appear on TV to tell everyone he's not happy about what Kent said about him?

Go coach Ivan, if you don't like what Jurno's say about you nobody is holding a gun to your head to read it.

He just said to his team they are not his squad.
Sharks smell blood I suspect.