A quiet Monday evening in October was flipped on its head thanks to the rather shocking news that Ivan Cleary had been sacked by the Penrith Panthers. Being sacked by the Panthers bascially means that Cleary was sacked by rugby league maestro Phil Gould and it appears to be a differing of opinions between Gould and Cleary that led to this rather drastic decision.

Let's get a few things straight. The Panthers have gone back to back in winning the 'Most Injury Ravaged Season' awards in 2014 and this season, which made their run last season in which they came close to making the Grand Final so much better. To 'sack' Cleary or 'terminate' his contract based on his coaching performances would be a move that somebody with little sporting knowledge would make - Cleary did a great job considering how many of his first-choice players have been missing over two seasons.

Phil Gould has immense sporting and more specifically, NRL knowledge. I find it hard to believe that Gould would give Cleary the flick because the Panthers came close to winning the wooden spoon as I'm pretty sure that Gould is aware of how unfortunate the Panthers have been with injury.

Rumours had been swirling about a cheeky beef between Cleary and Gould, which is speculation and there's a variety of different yarns as to where everything went wrong. One might have wanted Jamie Soward to stay, one might have wanted to move him on while the Trent Barrett saga is also a possible reason. I don't think anyone should take Gould's word when he says that he could see Cleary was tired and that everything that was going down with the Panthers was taking its toll on Cleary. It's pretty clear that Cleary and Gould's relationship went sour at some point and Cleary's position became untenable.

The use of the word 'terminate' kinda signals to that. This could have been a mutual break up with the classic 'we have decided to part ways with Ivan' line used. Instead, the Panthers terminated his contract, which sounds a bit dramatic.

What confuses matters even further is that apparently Anthony Griffin will now get the job. When sacking a coach, usually you do so to upgrade on the former coach and bring in someone better. I won't listen to anyone who says that Griffin is a better coach than Cleary and if anything it is a downgrade. This only further fuels my belief that there were deeper issues at Penrith and that Gould has sought out a new coach safe in the knowledge that he would no longer have Cleary.

Griffin however did bring a lot of the current Broncos players into the NRL after coaching them at Under 20 level. Griffin's strengths of working well with young players does suit the Panthers nicely as they have some of the best young players in the NRL as well as a junior system that could rival that of the Broncos. Griffin won't be a terrible appointment and he could definitely do good things with the Panthers, but is it worth breaking up all the work that Cleary had done during his tenure? Well I guess it is when there are other factors at play here.

I don't have anything against Gould here. He has made his decision and we will now see how this plays out. It does however show the dangers of making bold statements about the future - nothing is certain in sport, let alone life when trying to look into the future.

Obviously this puts Cleary on the open market and you would be stupid to not consider Cleary rejoining the Warriors in some capacity. As an Auckland, a kiwi and the genius behind the 'Diary Of A Warriors Fan' I would love to see Cleary back at Mt Smart. If this means that Andrew McFadden has to make way for Cleary, then so be it - this is professional sport after all and this shit is ruthless.

The other option for the Warriors is to bring in Cleary as a mentor for McFadden. This would be a bit weird as Cleary is an NRL coach and still has plenty to offer as a coach, but if that is what it takes then make it happen.

Cleary is perfectly suited to the 2016 version of the Warriors. With the Panthers, Cleary played a key role in the emergence of Matt Moylan. Moylan is certainly an extremely talented fullback, but Cleary helped bring him into the NRL and then helped him grow into a fullback who rivals Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. Moylan's best attribute is his skill and instinct when coming into the backline and he effectively plays as a third half, such is his ability. The Warriors have obviously signed Tuivasa-Sheck and I couldn't think of a better coach than Cleary to work with Tuivasa-Sheck in Auckland and take his game to even greater heights.

Another signature of Cleary's time at Penrith was the effectiveness of Jamie Soward and Peter Wallace. Both Soward and Wallace are limited in what they can do, but Cleary (and Trent Barrett who worked on their attack) had them playing to a simple game plan with creative plays that best utilized the attacking weapons around them. Just like with Tuivasa-Sheck, I couldn't think of a better coach for Shaun Johnson than Cleary.

That is all a fantasy at the moment however. There's also a few other NRL clubs who could use a coach like Cleary, but meh.

Oh and David Smith quit his post as the boss of the NRL. Who cares though, another guy in a suit will come in and get the job, whatever.

I shall finish with two ongoing contract situations. It looks as though Martin Taupau won't be with the Tigers next season with a few other NRL clubs sniffing around Taupau who is reportedly unhappy with the Tigers. Everything is pointing to a possible move to the Manly Sea Eagles - anything could happen though. I'd love to see Taupau head to Brooky as that would be the final piece needed to see Manly be highly competitive next season with the Sea Eagles desperately needing a barnstorming forward.

The other situation revolves around William Hopoate and the Parramatta Eels. This has been low key brewing for months now as the Eels backtracked on the deal which lured Hopoate to Parramatta after his Mormon mission. The Eels don't want to honour that deal and are now asking Hopoate to accept far less money to stay with the Eels, which is probably a product of Hopoate's mediocre season. Hopoate isn't a game-breaking, x-factor oozing phenom though, he's just an extremely solid above-average NRL back and it's more a case of the Eels recognising that the deal offered to him before was a bit dumb.

What's funky though is that Hopoate could find himself back and Manly if this all goes sour. Apparently Hopoate wants to stay with the Eels though so stay tuned.