Penrith fullback Lachlan Coote admits Ivan Cleary has been a shock to the system for the Panthers, but is backing the coach to turn the NRL strugglers around.
Coote was stood down from first grade against the Gold Coast in round 15, only to play anyway because of an injury to Josh Mansour.
However, the 22-year-old said getting told he was dropped was a reality check and spurred him onto his best individual performance of the year in last week’s golden point loss to Parramatta.
“It did. It was a bit of a kick in the arse and I had to turn my perspective on being a first grade footballer,” said Coote, who is hoping for another dominant performance against South Sydney on Sunday at ANZ Stadium.
“I thought I was doing all the right things but obviously I wasn’t doing enough, so I’ve got a lot more to work on and hopefully I can go further.”
Cleary has caused ripples at the foot of the mountains since arriving from the Warriors this season.
He stripped Luke Lewis of the captaincy through the State of Origin period and punted underperforming star Michael Jennings to NSW Cup.
Cleary is strict on punctuality and issues fines for players being late to video sessions and team meetings.
Coote was dropped for being late to a training session.
Despite the controversies, Coote says Cleary is what the Panthers need.
“He’s a different sort of coach to what we’ve had in the past but he’s very professional and very big on preparing for games,” Coote told AAP.
“So it’s a bit of a change but I think it’s a good change for us.
“It’s only going to make us better as players and it’s going to be better for us.”
Competition for the No.1 jersey at Penrith is about to heat up again, with Michael Gordon’s return from a broken leg almost complete.
Gordon is expected back for the Panthers’ round 19 clash against Wests Tigers after his 2013 club Cronulla failed to get him across to the Shire early for the rest of this season.
“Obviously managers and the clubs do all the talking and I just wanted to focus on getting my leg better and not worry about that stuff,” Gordon said.
The star goalkicker revealed his road back from his round one broken leg had been arduous.
“The first couple of weeks of running was just painful and I thought `this is a nightmare’,” he said.
“Hopefully I’ll be back the week after (next week’s) bye … but there’s no point rushing it for one or two games so I’ll make sure it’s 100 per cent first.”
Rabbitohs powerhouse Dave Taylor will aim to terrorise the Panthers like he did in a 40-22 rout in round one, after being cut from the Queensland squad.
Asked how Penrith would stop Taylor, coach Cleary said: “With a bazooka.”