Cleary's touching message for rival after 'terrible' axing

Ivan Cleary has sympathised with Jason Demetriou after the coach was sacked by South Sydney – but it won't impact how Penrith prepare for Thursday night's clash.

After a poor start to the season, Demetriou was axed by the Rabbitohs on Tuesday night, ending a mixed tenure at the club and leaving them at rock bottom.

Cleary himself has been dumped by a club before and speaking to media prior to the round nine fixture, conceded the situation Demetriou finds himself in is never easy.

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"I do feel for Jason and his family – it's a terrible situation to be in," he said.

"Obviously to lose your job and for it to be so public as well … I definitely feel for those guys. On one hand, you know what you sign up for, but it's not nice.

"I'm not privy to all the details, but I definitely feel for him."

Cleary's coaching career was on the rocks at one stage after he was let go by the Panthers, but managed to land on his feet at the Wests Tigers before returning to the foot of the mountains and guiding them to three straight titles.

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The focus of the defending premiers won't be diverted despite the dramas going on at Redfern and Cleary acknowledged the tough task that awaits them at Accor Stadium.

Superstar halfback Nathan Cleary has been mysteriously ruled out of Thursday's game.

"As far as the Rabbitohs, we can't really control how they are going to react," the coach said.

"We can only worry about controlling what we can do and that's what we will be doing. We've had a lot of games against them – big games too – in the last few years.

"It's hard to predict how they will react – but we would be silly not to think they are gonna come out and give us their best game of the season."

Dragons legend Ben Hornby will take over as assistant coach at Souths for the rest of 2024, with Wayne Bennett looming as the likely man to take over next year.