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AAP
Sport
Scott Bailey

Cleary can become Penrith's greatest ever

Nathan Cleary and coach Ivan Cleary have signed new deals to keep them at the Panthers until 2027. (AAP)

Penrith have declared Nathan Cleary can become their greatest ever player after he and father Ivan signed mega extensions at the club until the end of 2027.

The Panthers on Wednesday hailed the deals as the most significant at the NRL club in the past decade, while admitting both could have commanded more money elsewhere.

The deal means Ivan will coach more than 300 games for the club across his two stints, after becoming their most experienced coach in Sunday's win over Canterbury.

Nathan had already been signed to the club until the end of of 2024, but his new deal worth more than $1 million per season will likely see him become the club's most capped player.

He will also be on track to become the club's leading points-scorer during the current deal, while the dual signatures all but assures the defending premiers long remain a title threat.

Penrith's football CEO Matt Cameron would not put a figure on the number of premierships the pair could win together, but believes the 24-year-old can become the club's all-time greatest.

"I can't see why not," Cameron, who also signed Nathan to his first deal as a teen, said.

"Part of today is future proofing this club going forward. That's what we have always tried to do.

"He epitomises what we stand for as a development club."

Ivan also backed the calls.

"I think (he can be)," the coach said.

"I don't know who measures that. You just look at the history of this club and there are just so many great players.

"Guys like Brandy (Alexander), Royce (Simmons). Those guys are revered in this club.

"With this deal Nat is going to rack up a lot of games and I feel like his best is ahead of him."

Negotiations with the pair only began at the start of last month and took less than four weeks to finalise.

Penrith are also adamant they will not be the last for either at the Panthers, stating they planned on extending again well before 2027.

They will also be hopeful they are as easy as this time, with Nathan clear he never intended on testing his value.

"It wasn't really that hard of a decision for me ... I'm absolutely blessed to be at this club. I couldn't picture myself anywhere else," Nathan said.

"It's definitely home for me. I am getting paid to do something I love."

The deals mean Penrith can turn their eye to their next rounds of recruitment with Liam Martin and Brian To'o, who each come off contract next year.

"(Keeping salary cap in mind) was just probably a frank conversation between Nat and I," Ivan said.

"It's probably one of the advantages we have.

"We've just got to try and keep the core of the team together ... Because I feel like we haven't achieved what we set out to do.

"We wanted to become a team that is up there with the best of them, and there is still a long way for us to go to be seen like that."

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