Penrith club captain Kevin Kingston believes the young talent at the club means there's no reason why the Panthers cannot dominate the NRL for the next decade.
Kingston will hang up his boots at the end of the season to take up an assistant coaching role with the Panthers under-20s team - a position offered to him by the club's general manager of football Phil Gould.
The 31-year-old, who began his career at Cronulla, has seen first-hand the transformation of the Panthers from perennial strugglers to being one game away from a grand final having joined from Parramatta at the end of 2009.
"Everything changed here with the signing of Gus (Gould) and then he got Ivan in and all the great staff around him," Kingston said.
"This will hopefully be the start of a decade where we are a very strong team ... given the amount of young players like Matt Moylan, Bryce Cartwright, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak that are here."
Kingston has enjoyed a 10-season career as a capable first-grade player with almost 190 appearances to his name and Penrith showed their high regard for him by back-flipping on a decision not to offer him a new contract.
After being told to look around for a new club, Cleary then decided to offer him a one-year deal 12 months ago, but told him the likelihood was he would lose his spot in the team to James Segeyaro.
And although he would love to be involved against Canterbury in Saturday's NRL preliminary final, he's hopeful Segeyaro can maintain his outstanding recent form.
"I had a really good talk in pre-season with Ivan and he was really transparent with his plans," Kingston said.
"I knew I would be playing a lot of NSW Cup so it wasn't a shock playing reserve grade when I returned from injury.
"'Chicko' (Segeyaro) hasn't surprised me going so well, he just needed an opportunity to play 80 minutes.
"He got that when I went down with an injury earlier in the year and I am delighted for him.
"He took a bit of hit in confidence when I re-signed late last year but he kept plugging away, working hard and adding more things to his kitbag.
"I think the way he's playing now is proof of what he's been working on."
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