Ivan Cleary is not one to over-hype a situation.
He was a rock solid performer as a player and has carried that understated nature into his coaching career where he has been wildly successful.
So when he described Isaah Yeo as “one of the best forwards in the game that’s ever played”, as he claimed on Monday, it’s worth further investigation.
Yeo is the kind of player who has also been a quiet achiever.
And he has achieved plenty, particularly over the past five years when he has been a crucial component of Cleary’s victory machine at Penrith which has churned out four successive premierships.
Yeo has re-defined the way a lock plays in the modern era, more so than any other current player has altered the way their position operates on the field, including his co-captain Nathan Cleary at halfback.
Cleary is an undoubted superstar but his game is part of the evolution of the modern halfback’s skill level which has been passed down from Peter Sterling to Allan Langer and Ricky Stuart, Andrew Johns, Jonathan Thurson and Cooper Cronk before he took the torch.
Yeo has revolutionised the way the player in the No.13 jersey influences a match.
His immediate predecessors as the top locks in the NRL were bash and barge merchants who became great because they had big motors, like Jason Taumalolo, Paul Gallen and Sam Burgess.
Yeo does not lack size, nor the ability to make an impact with his bulk in the middle of the ruck, but what sets him apart is his finesse, combined with the uncanny knack of knowing when to use his ball-playing skills to spread Penrith’s elite backline even wider.
And when the team’s better served by him stepping back to let them do their thing.
Such is his skill at running into the teeth of the defence with the ball in both hands, ready to go on his own or either way with a pass, he is in many ways a throwback to locks of a generation or two ago when the likes of Sharks maestro Gavin Miller, a Steelers ball-player Ian Russell and Canterbury’s 1995 Clive Churchill Medal winner Jim Dymock provided similar quality link services between the pack and the backs.
“He’s the current Golden Boot winner,” Cleary said.
“If you have a look at the past winners, that says a fair bit about where he is.
“He’d be the first to admit that as an edge player, he was certainly capable but didn’t have certain skill sets that fit an elite back-rower.
“It turns out that what he can do in the middle goes beyond what a lot of other people can do, so it’s been a good move for him and he’s made it his own.”
Kangaroos captain Isaah Yeo holds aloft the 2024 Pacific Championships trophy. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The 30-year-old has snuck up the rankings of the top modern forwards but Cleary is probably stretching it a tad too far in claiming Yeo’s one of the best ever.
When it comes to the forwards who have been the most recent inductees into the NRL Hall of Fame since the original 100 players of the first century were chosen, Yeo’s resume stacks up well alongside Kiwi legend Mark Graham, “The Raging Bull” Gorden Tallis, Manly favourite Steven Menzies, Petero Civoniceva, Ruben Wiki, Craig Young and Burgess while he is streets in front of Les Boyd. (It is still unfathomable that someone better known for disgraceful suspensions rather than their playing achievements was considered worthy of this honour in the last intake).
Yeo, who made his debut in 2014 as a skinny centre with not enough pace to stay out wide, lines up for his 250th match for Penrith this Friday when they try to get their title campaign back on track at CommBank Stadium against the Cowboys.
He is under contract for another two seasons after this one and if he stays injury free, he looks a certainty to become the first Panther into the 300 Club.
“I’ve always had a career goal to hit 300 at Penrith, touch wood. I’ve signed here for a few more years yet, that’d be nice but that’s probably looking a bit too far down the track,” he said.
“Ivan moved me to lock full-time (from second row in 2019) and then Trent Barrett was the attack coach when I first moved into that position and he helped me a tremendous amount with passing and being able to read the game a bit more.”
The Panthers hold aloft the 2024 Provan-Summons Trophy. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
And with a game based on guile and speed between the ears rather than across the field, there’s no reason why he could not play on into his mid 30s.
The Panthers are finding it hard to maintain their status as the kings of the NRL jungle following the loss of James Fisher-Harris and Jarome Luai in the off-season.
They are both very fine players and it’s very hard to offset their loss.
But when the day comes that Yeo hangs up his boots, he will be irreplaceable but not quite “one of the best forwards in the game that’s ever played”.
