'Best chance to win': Ivan Cleary explains choice to rest 16 Panthers players as league greats fire back at critics

The hunt for a fifth straight premiership was never going to be easy for Penrith but the choice to rest 16 players in round 26 could be the key to doing so, club great and current director Greg Alexander says.

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary left the league divided after he confirmed just one player would be returning from last week's team to face the Bulldogs on Thursday night.

Half Brad Schneider, who was named in round 25 against Canberra but did not take the field, moved into the starting team to play the Bulldogs. Matt Eisenhuth, who was not in the 17 last week, will take over the captaincy duties from Nathan Cleary.

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It is no surprise that key players are being rested in the rounds leading into the finals series, given that pattern has been established by the top teams in recent years, but rarely if ever to this extent.

No team has ever won the premiership from outside the top four in the modern era, but with Penrith's hopes of a double chance no longer realistic, Cleary has decided his side's best chance of pulling off an unthinkable finals run will come if his best players are fresh.

"Every decision that I make in my job has a lot of different ramifications," the Panthers coach said on Wednesday.

"They're not easy, but some come clearer than others, and this one was fairly clear.

"We just decided that, you know, if we're going to rest a number of them, we might as well just keep going.

"(There was) a lot of parts to this decision that I'm not going to go through today, but it seemed like the right one.

"The fact that where we've had to come from last on the ladder in round 12, we've been playing cut-throat footy for a long time. So yeah, fatigue is definitely part of it."

The Panthers sit in seventh ahead of round 26, meaning their run to the grand final will be four weeks of elimination battles once the top eight is decided. They can still finish as high as fifth or as low as eighth but are a lock to play finals.

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Speaking on his SEN radio show, Alexander explained why Cleary's radical team selection is a smart strategy.

"Isn't it about winning? I think the reason for the decision is about giving Penrith the best chance to win the premiership," he said.

"They need to win four straight matches (in the finals series to win the premiership). Resting players now gives them the best opportunity of doing that.

"Over the last four years, the strategy that Ivan has made about resting players or not has played a pivotal role in winning the premiership.

"In a nutshell, I agree with the decision that Ivan has made. It is within the rules."

Penrith's impressive rise back to the top after an alarming first 12 weeks of the season was also praised by Alexander, who noted the club has had a tough schedule in recent weeks.

"They are coming off to consecutive golden point matches against first and second ranked teams," he said.

"They've had a six-day turnaround for this game, that's three six-day turnarounds in the past four weeks. They've faced eight teams since coming off the bye.

"Five of those players that lined up on the weekend (against Canberra) also had to carry the extra load of Origin.

"I understand that clubs should be playing their best players but you are playing to win the competition. That's your aim at the start of the year.

"If things have to happen on the way through, as long as they are within the rules and it gives you your best opportunity, I don't care if it's Penrith or anyone else.

"If the Dogs were in a position where they couldn't advance themselves from where they are sitting right now, I'm sure it would cross Cameron Ciraldo's mind to rest some of his players."

In recent years, there have been calls for the NRL to adopt a similar system to the AFL, where all teams are given a bye round in between the regular season and finals.

NRL commentator Andrew Voss noted a similar practice is used during the Origin period, with all players selected rested from their club duties in the week prior to the game.

Still, the backlash to Cleary's decision was swift, leading others to side with Alexander in backing the Panthers' call.

"If I'm Ivan, those blokes don't play again next week," Matthew Johns said on SEN on Tuesday.

"Maybe some of the younger guys but my key men in particular, they don't play next week. I'm going to rest them, get them fresh.

"They started the year very underwhelming... but they look tired, you could see Nathan (Cleary) looked a little bit fatigued. Dylan Edwards, the mistakes he made last week were fatigue errors.

"I would rest them and make sure they're fit and firing."