In what was a shock move to move, Ivan Cleary was dropped by the Penrith Panthers this week.

After being headhunted from the Warriors by Phil Gould, Ivan Cleary took over a team in 2012 that finished 15th out of 16 teams to being one game away from the grand final two years later. In 2015, Penrith was a side crippled by injuries. With former rep players, Jamie Soward, Jamal Idris, Peter Wallace, Josh Mansour, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Brent Kite and star of the future Matt Moylan all spending significant time on the sidelines, Cleary could be forgiven for not quite being able to repeat 2014's heroics.

Despite the injuries, Penrith finished finished 11th - two places ahead of the Warriors. While Phil Gould "thought he needed a break", it has been speculated that Cleary's mid-season dismissal of Penrith assistant coach (and now Manly head coach) Trent Barrett played a large role in his ensuing departure.

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Speculation as to why Cleary was axed swiftly turned to where he may go, and the Auckland-based Warriors appears to be the team to which he has been most linked for obvious reasons; Ivan Cleary coached the Warriors for 137 games more than any other coach, has the most wins with 68 and at 49.6 per cent, has the third highest winning percentage in their history. Only Daniel Anderson and John Monie have higher with 55 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

When Cleary took over from Tony Kemp in 2006 the Warriors had finished the previous two years 14th out of 15, and 11th out of 15. In his first year, they improved to finish 10th before making the top 8 in four out of the next five seasons and coaching the Warriors to the Grand Final in 2011 in his last season in charge.

To put this in perspective, the Warriors have not made the top 8 in the four seasons since Cleary left in 2011.Brian McLennan, Matthew Elliot and now Andrew McFadden have all tried and failed since, to make the elusive top 8.

Despite every season starting with high hopes, the exciting acquisitions of talisimanic rake Isaac Luke from the South Sydney Rabbitohs and arguably the player of 2015, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck from the Roosters, combined with a return from injury for mercurial half Shaun Johnson, expectations for 2016 are at an all time high.

Jim Doyle was quick this week to shut down the rumours that Cleary will return, but if he is not snapped up by another NRL team and the Warriors don't get off to a convincing staff, don't be surprised to see Ivan Cleary back in the hot seat at Mount Smart.

Who do you think could be the coach to lead the Warriors to an NRL Grand Final? Hit the green button or email stuffnation@stuff.co.nz