Ivan Cleary insists it was no surprise grand final foes Brisbane finished the season as the side standing between Penrith and a historic NRL title three-peat.
The Broncos lost all but one of their final six games last season to drop from the top four and finish the season in ninth place on the ladder.
But Kevin Walters’ side put the competition on notice when they travelled to Penrith and upset the reigning premiers 13-12 in the opening round of the 2023 season.
The Broncos did not looked back after their round-one upset victory, remaining entrenched in the top eight and finishing the season alongside Penrith as one of two premiership heavyweights.
After three seasons missing the finals, the Broncos’ return to heavyweight status did not shock Cleary.
“I honestly thought that would happen,” Cleary said. “If you saw the way they played last year, there was obvious potential.
“When the sides lined up in round one, I thought when you looked at their side, there wouldn’t be a better roster in the comp and that’s exactly how they’ve played.
“They’ve probably improved as the season’s gone on.
“The Broncos have been a successful club for a long time. Yes, they’ve had a little bit of a down period but that pretty much happens with everyone. It was no surprise.”
For Penrith, the round-one loss to Brisbane confirmed early cause for concern, the clearest since the Panthers’ resurgence in 2020.
The first-start loss marked the only time since 2019 the Panthers had finished a weekend outside the top eight.
The Panthers had lost to Super League champions St Helens in the World Club Challenge the previous month, and went on to fall to Parramatta in round four for a 1-2 record.
“It was definitely a difficult start to the year for us,” Cleary said.
“They (the Broncos) had been obviously training very hard through their pre-season.
“It’s none of my business but they were probably looking back at last year and thought that was an opportunity lost.
“They really started this year with a bang and we felt it. Then we got a couple of other teams that were a bit similar. We felt like we were playing grand finals back-to-back early in the season.”
The Panthers bounced emphatically back to form in round five with a big defeat of Canberra, and are now 80 minutes away from becoming the first side in 40 years to win three consecutive grand finals.
After their shaky start, Penrith learned to be patient on the road back to the decider.
“We worked a couple of things out, we felt like there were some parts of our game that we were trying to evolve but it was probably a little bit too early,” Cleary said.
“As the season’s gone on, we’ve got some wins in the bank and we were able to evolve like we wanted to. Not too much but just enough.”
© AAP
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