Michael Ennis

[Hertera]

I'm just not sure what Ennis has done in coaching to be next in line. As an assistant what part of our structure has he helped. If we are looking at a rookie with manly dna maybe Chad Randell as he would have learnt from Ciraldo. Not saying I would give him the job but he is as qualified as ennis

 

[Phobia]

Who is Ennis's manager?

Yeah I'm wondering this too now.

I didn't have a problem with Seibold before, and I thought that Fox were just putting out their usual trumping BS.

However, Chammas isn't a liar.

Seibold doesn't want to coach? Don't make him coach then! WTF are we doing. The worst part is that presumably Mestrov was asked about these things, and didn't deny them!

I think Seibold has always been better suited to the books side of things... Apparently he head hunted the Larges', Muagututia, Walsh, etc, on his own. That said, I was willing to give him a chance at coaching because, you know, he wanted to coach. But no, he doesn't want to coach. Instead it's keeping the seat warm for Ennis. What makes Ennis so bloody good? Why the hell does Seibold have to stop coaching???

Manly is entertaining me off the field more than it is on the field. Welcome back 2022. Get ready for a pride jersey. Why not, how much worse can it get?

 

[skull61]

Which old boys I thought they all got the ****s with the club and want nothing todo with it unless they are talking about Peter Peters

 

[Hertera]

Funniest thing is Seibold who just got the gig was looking to retire as coach end 2027. Not sure I want a coach that is thinking of retiring already.

 

[Frogz]

I'm just not sure what Ennis has done in coaching to be next in line. As an assistant what part of our structure has he helped. If we are looking at a rookie with manly dna maybe Chad Randell as he would have learnt from Ciraldo. Not saying I would give him the job but he is as qualified as ennis

Ennis has not been a fulltime assistant anywhere. Nor has he achieved anything great in the consulting roles he has done. Last thing we need is a rookie head coach, with no experience.

 

[KaZa]

Why dud he get the shumits during negotiations last year then...I don't buy it.. maybe he just realised hes not good enough to coach.

 

[TheSoaringEagle2023]

I wouldnt mind a Ballin / Chad Randall combo as coaches.

 

[Brookie1973]

Why dud he get the shumits during negotiations last year then...I don't buy it.. maybe he just realised hes not good enough to coach.

I’d say he got the ****s because they were baulking at offering him an extension, which they eventually did, after we fluked that dogs semi win.

 

[Brookie1973]

At the end of last season, with Manly in discussions with Anthony Seibold and his manager Isaac Moses about a contract extension, the coach brought up the possibility of setting a finish line.

He admitted he didn’t want to remain an NRL head coach for the long term, and sought an extension through to the end of 2027 that would take him to the end of his career with the clipboard.

That didn’t mean he was ready to sail off into the sunset. Instead, Seibold opened discussions about moving into a management role at the club once his coaching days were over.

As part of those discussions, Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov approached Michael Ennis, a consultant on Seibold’s coaching staff, to gauge his appetite about succeeding Seibold.

Ennis, who had been recommended by Seibold as his long-term replacement, has long held aspirations to coach in the NRL.

At the time Mestrov approached him, Ennis had only just put his hand up for the Parramatta job vacated by Brad Arthur last season. The Eels ultimately decided he did not to have the relevant experience to take the job.

Mestrov had a similar view and wanted Ennis to move into a fulltime role to help his transition to a head coach.

As it stands, Ennis is at every Manly training session bar the captain’s run. If he moved into a full-time assistant’s role, Ennis would have to forego his lucrative contract at Fox Sports just to add an additional 30-60 minutes of training per week to his commitments at the Sea Eagles.


It wasn’t a move he was ready to entertain immediately, but Ennis indicated to the club he would do so in 2027, the final year leading into his proposed takeover.

After discussions with his management, Ennis decided against signing a deal with the Sea Eagles that could have guaranteed him the top job in 2028. A lot can happen in three-and-a-half years.

Meanwhile, in the background at Brookvale, some have been agitating for the return of a Manly identity to lead the club into the future.

There is a strong push for Broncos assistant coach Matt Ballin to return to the Sea Eagles, where he previously played and coached in an assistant capacity.

He has since served a five-year apprenticeship in the lower grades, rival NRL clubs and the State of Origin arena with Queensland.

Ballin recently met with Seibold at a Freshwater cafe, where Ballin indicated that he saw his future back in Sydney.

The Sea Eagles deny there is a move to bring Ballin back to the club, but he does have the old boys in his corner.

The push to brink back Manly figures to fill positions of power – led by a vocal group with ties to the club – extends to the administration, with NRL integrity boss Jason King being backed as a potential replacement for Mestrov.

The CEO has previously denied looking for the exit door, despite rumours that he had expressed interest in a job at NRL head office.

The other coaching option is Arthur, who has taken Super League club Leeds Rhinos from ninth to third on the ladder since taking over midway through last year.

Arthur, whose Rhinos team is currently on a five-game winning streak, worked as an assistant coach at Manly under Geoff Toovey in 2013 before taking on the head coaching job at Parramatta.

He was heavily linked to a return to Brookvale as Toovey’s successor, but knocked back attempts from the late Bob Fulton to bring him back to the club to remain at the Eels.

Arthur wants to return to the NRL and was close to getting the job at the Perth Bears before missing out to Mal Meninga.

Much will hinge on the next few weeks. Manly will do some soul-searching during the bye this week before two winnable games at Brookvale Oval against the out-of-sorts Wests Tigers and the injury-ravaged South Sydney before another bye.

If they lose those two games, and if the lack of effort that has plagued their last two performances is not remedied, there will be a lot more than a series of seven-minute player interviews taking place behind the scenes.

Seibold is starting to lose members of his dressing room. Frustrations with the way he handled the player performance interviews on Monday, coupled with a growing view that his coaching methodology is limited, are placing enormous pressure on him to turn things around.

The blaming of the Daly Cherry-Evans saga for his team’s poor performances is viewed by sections at the club as a valid distraction, but not enough of an excuse to justify their underwhelming efforts on the field.

“At the moment, Seibs is safe at this point,” Mestrov said on Monday. “Seibs understands as well as I do, it’s all about winning games. Seibs is safe at this point.”

In rugby league, those words can often be the kiss of death.

The Ennis succession plan and push for an Eagles old boy: Inside Manly’s coaching conundrum

My thoughts. What runs did/does Seibold have on the board to warrant him dictating to the club that he wants to move into club admin when he finished coaching? Similarly, why has his nomination of a possible successor (Ennis) just been accepted by the club and a plan then put in place for it to happen? In what universe is Ennis the best possible candidate, and how would they even know if they don’t even plan to open the job to other applicants when Seibs tires of coaching and takes his self anointed role in club admin. Is this all just Isaac Moses arranging futures jobs for all his clients, because it sure sounds like it.

 

[Bringbackcliffy]

Funniest thing is Seibold who just got the gig was looking to retire as coach end 2027. Not sure I want a coach that is thinking of retiring already.

Exactly and what recruitment decisions did he make with his short term ambitions in view. Reminds me of Bennett at the knights. Loaded up for 1 tilt at the premiership and left the cupboard bare.

 

[Rosko]

Are we the vocal group with ties to the club? 🙄

 

[eaglebuzz]

Ballin excites me as a prospect. A 2x premiership winner with an impeccable personal approach to training, who has the respect of the old boys. I can't think of a better candidate to be honest. Just needs a good team of assistants.

 

[Phobia]

My thoughts. What runs did/does Seibold have on the board to warrant him dictating to the club that he wants to move into club admin when he finished coaching? Similarly, why has his nomination of a possible successor (Ennis) just been accepted by the club and a plan then put in place for it to happen? In what universe is Ennis the best possible candidate, and how would they even know if they don’t even plan to open the job to other applicants when Seibs tires of coaching and takes his self anointed role in club admin. Is this all just Isaac Moses arranging futures jobs for all his clients, because it sure sounds like it.

I know, its absolutely baffling.

The walls are very much coming down at Brooky, leaks are everywhere. So much for Mestrov stopping the Tartak leaks, he's the leaker himself now.

This is deadset some of the stupidest stuff I have ever read. I was under the wrongful assumption that political realism existed at the club, and that people actually serve their own self-interest. Instead, we live in opposite land, where everyone in the club acts against their own self-interest. This can be seen in baffling examples, such as Seibold opting to make less money by retiring from coaching, and the club championing Ennis for head coach with literally zero cross-examination. No wonder DCE wanted out. He's the only one with any sort of logical human self-interest.

In hindsight, it appears that @BOZO is vindicated, and we genuinely should've sacked everyone in the club after we made the finals last year. Now whether this is from BOZO's genius understanding of club dynamics behind closed doors, or just pure, eventually vindicated, hatred, remains to be seen.

 

[Brookie1973]

Are we the vocal group with ties to the club? 🙄

We haven’t made a sound. Unless you count keypad clicks as a sound.

 

[JenEagle]

I’ve seen a lot of stuff go on in rugby league however this is up there.
So we sacked a two time premiership winning coach to hire a wooden spoon winning coach who actually didn’t even want to coach and just wanted to use the coach gig to move into a management role.

And now we also hear that Mestrov is trying to move into Head Office.

So what is Scott Penn running here ?
Some sort of training academy for future executives instead of a footy club to win premierships.

I am speechless. I’ve never been so disillusioned in my life.

 

[Brookie1973]

I’ve seen a lot of stuff go on in rugby league however this is up there.
So we sacked a two time premiership winning coach to hire a wooden spoon winning coach who actually didn’t even want to coach and just wanted to use the coach gig to move into a management role.

And now we also hear that Mestrov is trying to move into Head Office.

So what is Scott Penn running here ?
Some sort of training academy for future executives instead of a footy club to win premierships.

I am speechless. I’ve never been so disillusioned in my life.

It’s like a sitcom. Only it’s not funny. And you forgot to add that we let that wooden spoon coach appoint his own successor, who we just agreed to as being the best applicant for a job 2.5 years down the track, despite not ever holding a proper full time assistant coaching job in the NRL. It’s utterly bizarre.

 

[TJ55]

Mick Ennis gives off Trent Barrett vibes
Proceed with caution

 

[Brookie1973]

Mick Ennis gives off Trent Barrett vibes
Proceed with caution

That’s a painful memory we share together.

 

[TJ55]

That’s a painful memory we share together.

They were dark days

 

[JenEagle]

U actually couldn’t make this stuff up.
The other clubs must be laughing in disbelief at this.