After leaving the Warriors, Cleary originally intended to join the
Huddersfield Giants in the
Super League but instead retired to take up a coaching opportunity with the
Sydney Roosters. He was Sydney's
NSWRL Premier League head coach in 2003 and 2004, winning the latter premiership. Cleary coached New Zealand to the
2011 NRL Grand Final against Manly; they lost 24–10. In the following weeks, Cleary announced he was leaving to join
Penrith.
Penrith Panthers Early season injuries and some poor form from the
Penrith Panthers saw a tough start to Cleary's return to Sydney with Penrith sitting 15th after Round 19 of the
2012 NRL season with a 4–13 record. In 2014, Cleary took Penrith to the preliminary final before losing to
Canterbury. He was named Dally M coach of the year in the same season. He was released the following season after avoiding the wooden spoon with a final round victory over
Newcastle.
Wests Tigers He was appointed as the coach of the
Wests Tigers on 3 April 2017. In Round 22 of the 2017 NRL Season, Cleary coached the
Wests Tigers and coached against his son,
Nathan Cleary who was playing for the
Penrith Panthers in a losing effort by 28–14. In the 2018 season, Cleary guided Wests to a ninth-placed finish narrowly missing out on a finals spot. On 11 August 2018 Cleary released a prepared statement ending speculation that he would leave the Wests Tigers to coach Penrith. Cleary said: "I advised the Panthers of my ongoing contract status with the Wests Tigers....I intend to honour this contract". On 28 October 2018, following pressure from Cleary, the
Wests Tigers released Cleary from the final two years of his contract. Cleary also sent a departing text message to the Tigers playing group saying "G'day boys I hope this finds you well and enjoying your time off, I was writing to you in the hope of beating the press.. to let you know that I will no longer be your coach at Wests Tigers. "This is an extremely uncomfortable situation for me as I have genuine fondness for the club, and I have loved coaching you all.. I understand that this situation has caused some pain for people that I care about, along with putting the club in an awkward situation... I do not feel good about this. "I would have preferred to do this in person but time and circumstances have made that impossible. I hope we meet again soon and I wish you all the very best in the future. You have my number and I am always open for a chat if you wish."
Return to the Penrith Panthers On 29 October 2018, the
Penrith Panthers confirmed the return of Ivan Cleary as head coach, on a 5-year deal, beginning in 2019. Ivan linked with his son
Nathan Cleary and began his second stint as head coach at the Penrith Panthers. Cleary's second spell in charge at Penrith got off to a bad start with the club winning only 2 of their first 10 matches leaving the team bottom of the table. Penrith would then go on to win their next 7 games in a row leaving them just outside the finals places. In a must win game against the
Sydney Roosters in round 24, Penrith lost the match 22–6 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground which meant that the club would miss out on the finals series for the first time since 2015. In round 8 of the
2020 NRL season, Cleary coached Penrith to a 19–12 victory over the
Wests Tigers. Following the full time siren, angry Wests fans shouted abuse at Cleary who was inside the coaches box. Cleary proceeded to wave and blow kisses at the Wests Tigers supporters. Following Penrith's 28–12 round 13 victory over Canberra in the
2020 NRL season, Cleary questioned the integrity of the referees in the post match press conference by saying he felt Canberra were managed back into the game by the officials. Cleary was later fined $20,000 for his comments. In round 19 of the
2020 NRL season, Cleary guided Penrith to victory over North Queensland 32–12 at the
Queensland Country Bank Stadium. The win was Penrith's 14th in a row and also meant they had claimed the 2020
Minor Premiership, only the third time Penrith had done this in their history. On 19 October, four years since being sacked as being head coach of the Panthers, Cleary was named Dally M Coach of the Year for the second time for his efforts of Penrith's 2020 season. Cleary guided Penrith to the
2020 NRL Grand Final on the back of a 17-game unbeaten streak. In the final, Penrith's opponents were Melbourne who raced out to a 22–0 lead. Penrith fought their way back into the game during the second half but lost the grand final 26–20. In 2021, Cleary guided the Penrith club to a comfortable 2nd place, on 44 points. This placing them in the qualifying final against
South Sydney, in which Penrith were defeated pushing them back into a knock out final the next week. After defeating both the
Parramatta Eels and the
Melbourne Storm, Penrith qualified for the
2021 NRL Grand Final being held at
Suncorp Stadium on 3 October 2021. The Penrith club, with the guidance of Cleary, won the NRL Grand Final against
South Sydney, 14–12. This made Cleary a premiership winning coach for the first time after coaching over 370 NRL games. In 2022, Cleary won his second NRL Premiership in a row as coach of Penrith when he guided his side to a 28–12 win over the
Parramatta Eels in what was considered by many experts to be one of the best all round performances from a NRL side in a Grand Final. In the
2023 NRL season, Cleary guided Penrith to the minor premiership and also their third straight premiership as they defeated Brisbane 26–24 in the
2023 NRL Grand Final. Penrith became the first team since Parramatta in the early 1980s to win three consecutive premierships. On 24 February 2024, Penrith would lose the
2024 World Club Challenge final against
Wigan 16–12 at the
DW Stadium in controversial circumstances. In
2024, he took the Penrith club to their fifth consecutive Grand Final to face Melbourne in a rematch of the 2020 Grand Final. Despite a 23rd minute try to Melbourne's
Harry Grant, Penrith answered back when
Sunia Turuva scored four minutes later, before eventual
Clive Churchill Medalist,
Liam Martin put Penrith ahead on the stroke of half time. Melbourne would be left scoreless in the second half to reverse the result of 2020 and hand Penrith and Cleary their fourth Premiership in a row. The first side to do so since
St. George in
1966, as well as extending their record in the NRL era. In the
2025 NRL season, Cleary guided Penrith to a 7th placed finish on the table after enduring a tough start to the season where at one point that club was sitting last. Penrith would eventually reach the preliminary final where they narrowly lost to Brisbane 16-14 which ended their quest for a fifth straight premiership.
Statistics Coaching Honours NZ Warriors •
NRL Grand Final: 2011
Penrith Panthers •
NRL Premiership: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 •
NRL Minor Premiership: 2020, 2022, 2023 •
NRL Grand Final: 2020
Individual •
Dally M Coach of the Year: 2014, 2020 ==References==