Parker: Nathan Cleary will follow his dad out of Panthers

Massive news in the NRL on Wednesday and it's going to have a knock-on effect.

With Ivan Cleary stepping away I think that’s it for Nathan Cleary at the Penrith Panthers.

When Ivan said 'I'm done here in 2027', it was decision made for his son as well...they're a package deal, you will see Nathan go somewhere else.

That’s just a gut feel but it will be huge for rugby league and not just in Australia.

They have intimated all those senior boys at Penrith that they will look around.

The Perth Bears will be an attraction but there is a rumour circulating that Nathan is potentially bring offered 2 million pounds a year to play in the super league over in the UK.

His partner Mary Fowler plays there, they are currently long-distance so maybe he takes that up.

I think Nathan has also previously said - much like his dad - that he doesn’t want to play against the Panthers. So if that's the case he would have to look overseas.

I don't think that yesterday anyone really thought this was it for Ivan. But if you join the dots and you listen to some of the key senior players over the last week, they have all intimated that they might been having a look at what their options were elsewhere.

If they did know, then it has been brilliantly handled by them all.

Theres no secrets in the NRL and if they did, then well done the Panthers for keeping that quiet.

I do think he is going to be hard to beat as the greatest NRL coach of all time.

I understand Jack Gisbon and the like back in the day, but times were different to where we are now.

He’s won four premierships in a row. He coached five in a row. He took the Warriors to a Grand Final in 2011.

Six grand finals in 20 years. He played a semi-final in year two with the Warriors. Then took them to a prelim final in year three. A qualifying final in his 5th year and Grand Final in 6th.

He's surely up there among the greatest.