Penrith coach Ivan Cleary says his team has been playing “cutthroat footy for a long time” and player fatigue was one of many reasons behind a decision to rest 16 players for Thursday’s clash with the Bulldogs.

Betting was suspended on the game and the NRL is now investigating after the four-time reigning premiers went from $1.60 favourites to $2.30 outsiders before the teams were named, sparking integrity concerns.

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Cleary’s superstar son, Nathan Cleary, co-captain Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin were among the 16 players from the 17 that lost to Canberra the previous week who were rested.

Brad Schneider, who has been named at halfback, was the only player picked to take on the Bulldogs who also played last week.

On Wednesday morning, coach Cleary defended his decision, which raised the ire of some pundits while also being lauded by others as a genius move to freshen the stars up for what looms as a tougher finals campaign than recent seasons, with the Panthers set to miss the top four.

“Every decision that I kind of make in my job has a lot of different ramifications,” Cleary said.

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

“We just decided that if we’re going to rest a number of them, we might as well just keep going.

“We just honestly just thought, as I said, a lot of parts to this decision that I’m not going to go through today, but it just seemed like the right one, so I guess time will tell.”

Cleary said fatigue was “definitely part of it” given the Panthers had to make a surge up the ladder.

The reigning champs lost five of their opening six matches of the season before winning 10 in a row to push back into premiership contention.

Nail-biting losses to the Storm and Raiders in recent weeks, however, made a top-four finish unlikely and prompted the move to rest players.

“Just the fact that where we’ve had to come from last on the ladder in round 12, we’ve been playing cutthroat footy for a long time,” Cleary said.

“That’s definitely part of it.”

The Panthers will play the Dragons in the final round of the NRL season where it’s expected the stars will return.