Cleary was one of five representative stars missing from Sunday's 37-10 loss to Melbourne, which put their minor premiership hopes in serious doubt.

Apisai Koroisau is certain to return from a suspension on Saturday night, while Isaah Yeo is expected to come back with him from a concussion and Tevita Pangai will play his first game for the club.

But Cleary and his injured right shoulder will likely be further off after he was hurt in State of Origin II.

Ivan revealed on Sunday night that his star halfback could play if required and would likely be running out if it was finals football, but for now the Panthers were taking a cautious approach.

"He's coming along well, but we don't have a date yet," Ivan said.

"It's just when he is ready.

"It's only five weeks and it's a six-week injury. If we were playing semi-finals now he would probably be playing.

"But we want him to come back to play. We want him to play at his best. There is no need to rush it.

"He is coming back nicely. We're not going to take risks. When he comes back there will be no doubt he is ready."

It comes as the Panthers desperately try to manage him through to the end of the season, after putting off surgery until the end of the year.

Without him they have scraped past Parramatta, battled to a 13-12 win over Brisbane and then were comprehensively beaten by Melbourne.

And while they were without several front-liners on Sunday night, Ivan was not ready to cop that as an excuse.

He was particularly critical of their defence, backing up their 63 missed tackles against the Broncos last week with their most points conceded in three years, against the Storm.

"Defensively, just some of the collapses, I thought, it's not really what we pride ourselves on," Ivan said.

"We missed a lot of tackles last week but we only conceded three linebreaks and two tries.

"It shows there was a lot of blokes working hard and there was much more resolve.

"This week we probably tackled better but there was less resolve. It;s not consistent to our performance or who we are.

"Maybe having those players out did a little bit to their mindset. But I would certainly expect a bit better than that."

Australian Associated Press