I\ufeffvan Cleary is set to announce that he is walking away from his wildly successful tenure as Penrith Panthers coach at the end of his current contract, reports 9News' Danny Weidler.<\/p>\n
Cleary, who has led the Panthers to four premierships and a grand final loss in the last six years, is contracted until the end of the 2027 season. Cleary will front the media, alongside Penrith's chairman Peter Graham and CEO Matt Cameron at 2pm (AEST) Wednesday.<\/p>\n
"Everyone's been thinking it would be an announcement of an extension of [Ivan Cleary's] time at the Panthers," Weidler told 9News just before midday Wednesday of the 2pm announcement.<\/p>\n
\ufeff"The information I am getting right now is that Ivan is likely to say that 2027 will be his last as the Penrith Panthers coach.<\/p>\n
"If that's the case that is huge news. This is not confirmed as yet but my sources are telling me that could be the situation we're going to face out at Penrith in a couple of hours time, that Ivan Cleary could announce that.<\/p>\n
"He's long held a desire to be a coaching director, I don't know if that is part of his plans because all of this is just information I am hearing right now and we will get the full story at around 2 o'clock today." \ufeff<\/p>\n
The coach's son and superstar halfback Nathan Cleary is also off contract at the end of next season and has said he plans to test the open market.\ufeff<\/p>\n
MORE TO COME\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"