Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards has been guaranteed a shot at atoning for his horror night night in Bathurst when he faces the Wests Tigers next week.
Playing in just his 27th match of his career, Edwards made a career-high six errors in their 32-2 humbling at the hands of Melbourne.
Two led straight to the Storm’s first two tries, the second of which broke the Panthers’ back and allowed the visitors to run away with the match.
And while Edwards still led his side with 182 metres and three tackle busts, Cleary admitted it was a tough night for the 23-year-old.
“You feel for anyone when they go through a night like tonight,” Cleary said.
“I’ve gotta say, he never shied away from the game. But it certainly wasn’t his night. Obviously pretty disappointed, but I guess we’ve all had days like that.”
Edwards was playing in just his third game since coming back from a shoulder reconstruction that ruled him out since round two last year.
However, Cleary was unsure whether Edwards, who reclaimed his spot from Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, was still regaining confidence in his game.
“I haven’t really seen anything like that in the last couple of games,” Cleary said.
“Tonight was just one of those nights. The harder he tried, sometimes the worse it gets. I was happy with the fact that he didn’t shy away, he kept turning up.
“But yeah, just had an off night.”
Despite the drubbing, Cleary denied making drastic changes ahead of their grudge match against the Tigers on Friday.
While Edwards was injured last year, Watene-Zelezniak impressed so much that he was picked as captain of New Zealand by Michael Maguire.
Asked whether he would consider giving Edwards a spell in reserve grade, Cleary said: “No, no. He’ll be there next week.”