Phil Rothfield: Great form of Manly Sea Eagles masks huge dramas at the NRL club
IT’S amazing that the Manly Sea Eagles continue to lead the premiership on the back of the incredible will to win of the senior playing group.
This club is not a happy place right now, despite the smiling faces you see most weeks on Channel 9 and Fox Sports’ coverage of their games.
The anger over management’s refusal to make long-serving forward Glenn Stewart an offer has again been reignited by other recent player deals.
Jamie Buhrer recently signed a big-money, three-year deal and another back-rower Jesse Sene-Lefao is about to extend his contract.
Players are asking how Manly can find more than $350,000 for these two but couldn’t at the very least make the 2011 Clive Churchill Medal winner an offer.
The biggest problem for an under-fire front office is Brett Stewart.
Brett Stewart is fuming at his treatment.
The flying fullback is on a mission on the field but not happy off it.
He feels his brother has been disrespected and is first out of the dressing sheds these days.
Hard-as-nails centre Steve Matai has received a massive four-year deal offer from the Warriors and wants out.
He is the first Sea Eagles star to go public and reveal his true feelings.
“Glenn and I are quite close and I’m disappointed with the club,” Matai told a New Zealand newspaper over the weekend.
“They didn’t do their best to try to keep him here when he’s one of a core group that has been together for a long time.
“It might have a snowball effect on other senior players. We’ve been together for 10 years and for the club not to see the culture we’ve built is disappointing.”
Manly press conference4:54
A season ago he would have said no to the Warriors. But with the loyalty chain broken, he and other players now want to go.
The other problem surrounds the Sea Eagles’ outstanding five-eighth Kieran Foran.
Foran wants to see where Manly are going before committing to a long-term deal extension.
All these issues face coach Geoff Toovey before he gets to gun halfback Daly Cherry-Evans , whose negotiations are now on delay until the end of next season when he plans to test the market.
Manly have been in four of the past seven grand finals and could make another this season.
But to say the future is bright is wrong. Long term, it is anything but.
IT’S amazing that the Manly Sea Eagles continue to lead the premiership on the back of the incredible will to win of the senior playing group.
This club is not a happy place right now, despite the smiling faces you see most weeks on Channel 9 and Fox Sports’ coverage of their games.
The anger over management’s refusal to make long-serving forward Glenn Stewart an offer has again been reignited by other recent player deals.
Jamie Buhrer recently signed a big-money, three-year deal and another back-rower Jesse Sene-Lefao is about to extend his contract.
Players are asking how Manly can find more than $350,000 for these two but couldn’t at the very least make the 2011 Clive Churchill Medal winner an offer.
The biggest problem for an under-fire front office is Brett Stewart.
Brett Stewart is fuming at his treatment.
The flying fullback is on a mission on the field but not happy off it.
He feels his brother has been disrespected and is first out of the dressing sheds these days.
Hard-as-nails centre Steve Matai has received a massive four-year deal offer from the Warriors and wants out.
He is the first Sea Eagles star to go public and reveal his true feelings.
“Glenn and I are quite close and I’m disappointed with the club,” Matai told a New Zealand newspaper over the weekend.
“They didn’t do their best to try to keep him here when he’s one of a core group that has been together for a long time.
“It might have a snowball effect on other senior players. We’ve been together for 10 years and for the club not to see the culture we’ve built is disappointing.”
Manly press conference4:54
A season ago he would have said no to the Warriors. But with the loyalty chain broken, he and other players now want to go.
The other problem surrounds the Sea Eagles’ outstanding five-eighth Kieran Foran.
Foran wants to see where Manly are going before committing to a long-term deal extension.
All these issues face coach Geoff Toovey before he gets to gun halfback Daly Cherry-Evans , whose negotiations are now on delay until the end of next season when he plans to test the market.
Manly have been in four of the past seven grand finals and could make another this season.
But to say the future is bright is wrong. Long term, it is anything but.
