Ivan Cleary confirms Jack Cogger suspension, press conference, halves call, team news, Lachlan Galvin

A thrilling minor premiership race means the Panthers are unlikely to rest players for the remainder of the regular season, with Jack Cole emerging as the leading candidate to replace the suspended Jack Cogger in the halves.

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The Panthers are level with the Warriors and Roosters on 38 competition points but trail their New Zealand rivals by one point on for and against.

It leaves them in second spot which would guarantee them two home games in the finals as long as they win their next two fixtures against the Bulldogs and the Tigers.

The club rested almost their entire first choice squad for a game against the Bulldogs in round 26 last year, but that won’t happen this Friday where they’ll be without Cogger who accepted a three-match ban for a high shot against the Storm.

The five-eighth would have risked a four-game suspension if he fought the charge and lost at the judiciary, with a prior ban earlier this year leading to such a lengthy lay-off.

“Three weeks is bad enough, but four’s worse,” coach Ivan Cleary said.

“Super disappointed with it, to be honest. But ultimately, we didn’t think we could win.”

The ban throws a spanner in Penrith’s finals preparations given Cogger took over from Blaize Talagi only a few weeks ago due to some defensive issues, with Talagi lining up in reserve grade last Friday after the charges had already come out.

Talagi has the attacking X-factor, but his poor defensive reads could see him miss out this week. He was overlooked for Jack Cole in round 23 when Cogger was unavailable.

“We’ve had this discussion. Blaize knows (what he needs to work on),” Cleary said.

“You’d prefer it if you get a little bit more cohesion there, but all the boys that have played there have sort of played enough. It’s just another challenge that you get throughout the season.

“I don’t really want to talk about players individually at the moment. Whoever we pick there will be the man to do the job this week.

“It’s an important position, a big game with top two spots still up for grabs. The team is the most important thing. Whoever fills the job, we have confidence they’ll do the job. And that’s just for this week.

“As you’ve seen, there have been injuries all throughout the year for every team, so you just have to be ready for everything, have different contingencies. It’s not all about one guy who starts, there are plenty of other things that you’ve got to work out as well.”

Hooker Mitch Kenny won’t return this week from a serious lower-leg injury, but he could get some valuable minutes under his belt in the final round.

Meanwhile, Cleary gave little away when asked whether he was interested in coaching the Kangaroos after it was revealed that Kevin Walters was stepping down after the World Cup to lead English club St Helens.

Cleary will finish up at Penrith at the end of the 2027 season and won’t coach the Blues after Matt King was locked in a few weeks ago.

The four-time premiership-winning coach was an assistant with the Kiwis at the 2013 World Cup and would be an obvious option to replace Walters, with Kangaroos legend Cameron Smith also in the mix.

“If I’ve been linked to it, I’d be very honoured, but it’s not something I’m thinking about because I don’t know what I’ll be doing,” he said.

“I’m still coaching in the NRL, it’s a big enough job, plenty to be worrying about anything else, so that’s what I’m doing.

“I don’t know why I’m being considered because I don’t know much to it.”

GALVIN OPENS UP ON CLEARY LESSONS IN ORIGIN CAMP

Lachlan Galvin has already beaten Nathan Cleary’s Panthers once this year, and the Bulldogs star is hoping that some lessons learnt in State of Origin camp will help him take down the world’s best playmaker again in a crucial clash on Friday night.

The Bulldogs need to beat Penrith to keep their finals hopes alive, while the Panthers are looking for a big win of their own to claim the minor premiership.

There are stars all across the park for this one, but the game could come down to the two halfbacks who crossed paths in Origin camp when Galvin was called up as part of the wider squad ahead of the series decider.

“I spoke to him a little bit when I went to Blues camp for a bit,” Galvin said.

“He’s the benchmark for halfbacks in the comp, so anything I can learn off him is pretty cool. I love watching him play, and it’d be a pretty cool contest to go up against him again next week.”

Galvin was outstanding when the pair clashed in round six, with the No. 7 handing Cleary his first loss of the season with four line-break assists and a try assist as he took over with the game in the balance.

It was his short ball that sent Jacob Preston through to break the deadlock early in the second half, before the pair linked up to set up another try to ice the result with 10 minutes to go.

That was perhaps Galvin’s best NRL performance in a year where he has done a lot better than people have given him credit for.

“I think all the boys performed that night, not just me. When everybody around me is playing well, it makes me play better footy,” he said.

“So if we can bring our best again next week, we know we can go toe-to-toe with any team, and that gives us confidence to know that we can beat them. When we’re at our best, we can beat anyone in the comp.

“I just love playing footy. I want to go out there every week and play my best for the team.

“I’ve been very happy this year. As you know, I’ve got my things outside of footy, and when I’m in training and playing my footy, I’m very happy. When I’m doing it with a smile on my face, that’s when I’m playing my best footy.

“I’ve really enjoyed this year. The results probably haven’t been going our way and it’s been a bit hard, but I play this game because I love it and enjoy it, so I’m going to keep doing that.

“If that means I’m playing my best and helping the team, then I’ll keep doing that every week.”

The Bulldogs kept their finals hopes alive with a big win over the Dragons on Saturday, but this will be a much tougher test against Cleary and his teammates who ended their season in September last year.

“Any time we can get Bulldogs fans to a game and them cheering us on, it’s like an extra player out on the field for us,” Galvin said.

“As we always say, stick by us the next few weeks. We’re going out there to show that we want to play finals, and we think we can go toe-to-toe with the best when we’re playing our best footy.”