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Cleary blocks blocking talk escalating

3 minute read

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has batted away questions about his war of words with Wayne Bennett, as well as Peter V'landys' claims it is good for the NRL.

Panthers coach IVAN CLEARY.
Panthers coach IVAN CLEARY. Picture: Renee McKay/Getty Images

Ivan Cleary has refused to delve further into the kick blockers debate, dead-batting Peter V'landys' claims last week's war of words was good for the game.

One week after he engaged in a tense pre and post-match feud with Wayne Bennett, Cleary remained stone-faced for the majority of Friday's captain's run press conference.

The Penrith mentor would not weigh into the conversation ahead of the semi-final against Parramatta, other than to state his team were not distracted by the drama last week.

The Bennett and Cleary issue was two-fold.

What began as correspondence from South Sydney around Penrith's forwards' movements when Nathan Cleary got the ball on the last turned into so much more.

Penrith initially went public in pushing for protection of their kickers, before Bennett unloaded with claims the Panthers' practised illegal moves and they had to be stopped by the league.

Beyond that, Cleary claimed after the match that Bennett's comments had influenced referees and he wanted the league to clamp down on it.

Any chance of that happening in the future was largely put to bed by ARLC chairman V'landys on Friday, who said he had no issue with the drama.

"I think it adds to the game and entertainment and tribalism. I think the theatre between Cleary and Bennett was fantastic," V'landys told 2GB.

"So why stop it?

"That's what drives tribalism and drives the game.

"Coaches have every right to seek assistance from the referees and we're not going to stop it."

When told of those comments on Friday and asked if he felt it trivialised the issue, Cleary responded: "That's a big question.

"I don't know the answer."

Cleary also confirmed he had not spoken to the NRL this week about the situation, but could in the future "depending on the situation".

"I said what I said, I believe what I said," Cleary said.

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