Steve Matai warns Sea Eagles could fly coup if Glenn Stewart leaves

[Ralphie]

Look no further than Penrith a couple of years back when the Lunatics were running the Asylum. In the end Penrith were forced to tear the club apart to wrest control back from the Lunatics.

Manly cannot allow the players to dictate what happens. Their job is to play footy.

 

[susan]

Agree with Alphie to an extent but the comparison is not applicable here as the lunatics at Penrith kept missing the eight. Our so called lunatics are one of the most professional and successful groups in the history of professional sport in this country.

In my opinion giving an extra 100k + per year to Glen as a reward for his services and to fortify the playing group who have done us proud for so long is simply common sense.

Hiku is a good player who has filled in well. For some reason he is being talked of like he is Graham Eadie on this site.If the Dogs offer him 300k so be it.Might be the right money, may not.Wolf is also nearing the end after great service,as is Kingy.I can guarantee you the retention of those 3 wont be the make or break of this club while losing Glen may well put us behind the eight ball for quite a while. Foran is a superstar- it is crazy to risk our future by denying Glen a payday.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Next training session give all the players
a pen
paper
a calculator
The 25 players names
The salary cap amount

And see if they can work it out

 

[mickqld]

There needs to be a sliding scale of dispensation for long serving players at one club. Say knock $50000 off for a player with 100 first grade games at one club, $100000 for 150 games, $150000 for 200 games. Of course there is no way this will happen because Manly is the only club that would benefit greatly because of the number of long serving players. There would be no benefit to Dogs, Roosters,Souffs who have revolving door buy anything to win policies.

 

[bones]

I'm sure the players are just putting it out there so that it puts more pressure on the club to do all they can to keep Glenn.

Do we really want Glenn, Brett, Matai, Lyon, Ballin, King and Watmough all retiring at once in few years time? Would the team be able to handle so many leaving at once?
IMO, they need to be phased out 1 or 2 at time. I just wish it wasn't Glenn first. I'm not going to disrespect any of the players by saying who I think should go first (I wish we could keep them all), but how is the club supposed to decide who goes first? Is Glenn just the unlucky one because his contract expires first?

*(My opinion is that Glenn is too good to let go and must be re-signed).

 

[Fluffy]

Agree with Alphie to an extent but the comparison is not applicable here as the lunatics at Penrith kept missing the eight. Our so called lunatics are one of the most professional and successful groups in the history of professional sport in this country.

In my opinion giving an extra 100k + per year to Glen as a reward for his services and to fortify the playing group who have done us proud for so long is simply common sense.

Hiku is a good player who has filled in well. For some reason he is being talked of like he is Graham Eadie on this site.If the Dogs offer him 300k so be it.Might be the right money, may not.Wolf is also nearing the end after great service,as is Kingy.I can guarantee you the retention of those 3 wont be the make or break of this club while losing Glen may well put us behind the eight ball for quite a while. Foran is a superstar- it is crazy to risk our future by denying Glen a payday.

I highly doubt this is just a Gift/Hiku choice.

How many players can we lose to keep gift?
Is he worth losing Hiku, Buhrer, JSL, Turbojet, Hasson?

That is probably more the question.

We also have no idea on how much the amount is, is get worth 500K per season? Not in my books. Is he worth 250K per season? Way more than that.
Is he worth more than DCE, Foran, Choc, Lyon, Ballin or his brother?

 

[Chip and Chase]

If you look at backrow depth, maybe the wheels were already put in motion a season or two ago.

Symonds, Chee Kam, JSL, Buhrer, Hasson, Horo.....

I'd hate to lose Gift but how long do you hang on to him ?? I'd be interested in what length contract he is seeking. He is 30.

If he does go I hope it's to England, he'd kill it over there and we wouldn't have to face the prospect of seeing him run out in another clubs jersey.

We will face this same dilemma in a the next couple of years when King / Choc / Killer / Skivvy / Snake are all up for renewal. It's an unfortunate part of the game.

 

[Av8r]

I'm sure the players are just putting it out there so that it puts more pressure on the club to do all they can to keep Glenn.

Do we really want Glenn, Brett, Matai, Lyon, Ballin, King and Watmough all retiring at once in few years time? Would the team be able to handle so many leaving at once?
IMO, they need to be phased out 1 or 2 at time. I just wish it wasn't Glenn first. I'm not going to disrespect any of the players by saying who I think should go first (I wish we could keep them all), but how is the club supposed to decide who goes first? Is Glenn just the unlucky one because his contract expires first?

I agree with you Bones, the club needs to move the senior guys on one at a time. As for who goes first, wasn't Kitey the first big name to go?
I don't think Glenn's been playing at the same high standard of previous years, perhaps the club sees more benefit in the younger guys coming through. Maybe Technical Coach is right, perhaps the salary cap is being used as an excuse.

 

[Brissie Kid]

Unlike any other backrower in the NRL G Stewart is a ball player. He is worth the extra money even if he can only run on one leg for 3 years. His leadership and toughness in defence are icing on the cake.

In the prelim final last year he dealt with S Burgess right at the start and got Manly back into the game when he set up the first try from a short kick for Snake. No other forward in the game except maybe SBW offers what Gift does.

 

[silvereagle]

For mine, the club should go all out to re-sign Gifty. He has been a fabulous player and terrific clubman for many years and an absolutely integral part of our football success. Still is. He is only 30 and I think he has a good 2-3 years to go at the top. We signed a guy called Ben Kennedy in 2005 who was 31 years of age at the time and he won lock of the year for the next two years straight....and was named in our greatest eagles team ever. I reckon Glenn is of that ilk and am amazed the club has not yet tabled some base numbers around which to negotiate a position.....particularly with the strong support of the core team. My fear is that they have already made a decision to let go.

 

[torana355]

I try and stay away from this kind of news as it can become depressing and most of the time it leads to nothing. At the end of the day we have to abide by a salary cap, with our team being so successful for such a long time it was bound to come to an end sooner or later.

We are going to start losing some of our great senior players as they come to the end of their great careers and and will try and cash in on a big last contract at another club unless we can provide that kind of money. All the boys want to stay at Manly but they also all want decent money, they cant have it both ways. Our main objective should be keeping our young stars like DCE, Foz and Hiku and i can assume that is why Gift has not been offered a contract yet as the club figures out how much money they can offer him. The players are simply putting pressure on the board to resign him.

 

[master blaster]

you know what,I am over all this garbage,what happens,happens,nothing I can or do will change anything,I get way too emotional over things that happen like this,it really hurts,and its very disheartening,dont get me wrong,I love my club and my team and players passionately,I have supported the club for over 40 years,and I always will,my late mother was a die hard Manly fan too,and she loved Tooves,he was her fav player,he even came and saw her a few months before she passed,my point being,I renewed my membership again for the numerous time,and I even got my son a membership as well,as I know a number of us on here have too,he also loves Manly,but at the end of the day,we showed our loyalty to the club and players,its about time they showed a bit back to us,and give us some answers back,I know that wont happen,but loyalty is a two way street isnt it,sorry everyone,thats just how I feel right now

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Maybe Technical Coach is right

Get a grip folks, this thread is really turning weird now

 

[RiverEagle]

You would hope and expect guys like Skivvy, Choc and Foz etc, to voice their support for Gifty.. and the club owes Glenn AND the fans, the courtesy of either making our best offer, or telling him to seek an alternative future.

Ultimately tho I agree that it's dragged on too long, is a distraction to all, and is diminishing the focus on our success ON the field.

Get it sorted PLEASE.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Coop not coup.
If we signed them all that would be a coup. :idea:

 

[niccipops]

All this - allegedly - going on at a club who's membership theme for 2014 is 'Stronger Together' is not sitting well with me in my first year as a member.
To the Sea Eagle players, you can't all be together when some of you are on half a mil+.
I really think the club should retain Gift and sort this out quickly for the sake of team harmony and that of the fans.
If this is really about loyalty the money should be negotiated to a suitable compromise between both parties and maybe all other players involved.
If it's just about the dollars then anyone asking for huge cash should just go and wear somebody else's colours and roll in their money.
If it's about your mates, stay and play for less at the club where you belong.:huh:

 

[mike walker]

Unlike any other backrower in the NRL G Stewart is a ball player. He is worth the extra money even if he can only run on one leg for 3 years. His leadership and toughness in defence are icing on the cake.

In the prelim final last year he dealt with S Burgess right at the start and got Manly back into the game when he set up the first try from a short kick for Snake. No other forward in the game except maybe SBW offers what Gift does.

g'day all,Lets be honest the reason why we had to get back into the game was because of a couple of glaring errors by glen.Personally I think his form over the last couple of seasons has on the whole been pretty ordinary and he is no longer the player he was and we have several younger players ready to step up,remember Tommy S carving up the right hand side for the first few rounds last year.None of this diminishes the fact Glen has been a wonderful player and clubman for us for many years but as I said in another thread if the great Menzies had to go no one is immune or irreplaceable.
cheers mike

 

[the mauler]

g'day all,Lets be honest the reason why we had to get back into the game was because of a couple of glaring errors by glen.Personally I think his form over the last couple of seasons has on the whole been pretty ordinary and he is no longer the player he was and we have several younger players ready to step up,remember Tommy S carving up the right hand side for the first few rounds last year.None of this diminishes the fact Glen has been a wonderful player and clubman for us for many years but as I said in another thread if the great Menzies had to go no one is immune or irreplaceable.
cheers mike

So Mike, you believe Tom Symonds can replace Gift?? Lol.. Please!!!

 

[MadMarcus]

The reality is that Gift is actually worth a lot more to a club like Canberra. They would be hoping he can instill a work ethic and winning culture in the young players coming through the ranks. He would be like BK was to us in the mid 2000s. It's the same reason Kite was worth more to Penrith. It's slighty different because of his age, but Will Hopoate is worth more to Parra than us because they can build a team around him.

We already have the winning culture and scores of champion players in our team. Our priorities must be Foz and DCE as that is our future. This means that other players, however great they may be, unfortunately may need to wait to see how much cash we have left. They will all stay with us for less, but everyone has a limit.

It's a difficult situation and I'm glad I don't have to balance the books, but our guys are pretty good at it so hopefully they can keep our success going, with or without Gift (as much as I want him to stay).

 

[mike walker]

g'day all,Lets be honest the reason why we had to get back into the game was because of a couple of glaring errors by glen.Personally I think his form over the last couple of seasons has on the whole been pretty ordinary and he is no longer the player he was and we have several younger players ready to step up,remember Tommy S carving up the right hand side for the first few rounds last year.None of this diminishes the fact Glen has been a wonderful player and clubman for us for many years but as I said in another thread if the great Menzies had to go no one is immune or irreplaceable.
cheers mike

So Mike, you believe Tom Symonds can replace Gift?? Lol.. Please!!!

g'day all,I know that somebody will at some point.As far as TommyS is concerned I was merely making the point that at this time last year we were all raving about his form and the fact that Glen missing was not an issue and for the record ithink Tommy is a tremendous footballer whos career has been blighted by injury unfortunately.
cheers mike