The way forward

[Mark from Brisbane]

It’s pretty depressing being a Manly fan currently , I’m not sure we are at rock bottom but we certainly are nearing those rocks.

So , given that we aren’t going to get new owners anytime soon , and highly highly unlikely to find a super rich benefactor we as a club are going to have to discover a new way forward.

The issues ( apart from funding which I’ve done to death ) are ,

**Recruitment & our non ability to attract stars

**Our reliance on several highly paid players sucking a huge chunk of our salary cap.

**Our lack of quality talented juniors compared to other clubs.

**Our poor performing reserve grade

**Our football department ( top to bottom)

I’ve neglected to add , injury crises as I think at times all clubs face this so let’s leave that one out of the conversation.

If there’s any more major issues please feel free to list.

Now , I do not have the answers , but could comment on each of the above however I thought I’d throw this open to the ST team as to , how would you improve each or a number of those issues???

Now it’s a given that there will be plenty of “ sack the coach “ responses , and fair enough if that’s your view , but surely even the most avid of you that are anti Seibold must realise it’s not just the coach that’s the core of our problems so I’d really like to hear everyone’s views on what the fix might be, so by all means “ sack the coach “ but please that’s not much of a response without ways to fix the other issues at the core of our problems.

Please feel free to add a major issue , and if you do I’ll edit the original post to reflect that as well.

 

[Eagles4Life]

It’s pretty depressing being a Manly fan currently , I’m not sure we are at rock bottom but we certainly are nearing those rocks.

So , given that we aren’t going to get new owners anytime soon , and highly highly unlikely to find a super rich benefactor we as a club are going to have to discover a new way forward.

The issues ( apart from funding which I’ve done to death ) are ,

**Recruitment & our non ability to attract stars

**Our reliance on several highly paid players sucking a huge chunk of our salary cap.

**Our lack of quality talented juniors compared to other clubs.

**Our poor performing reserve grade

**Our football department ( top to bottom)

I’ve neglected to add , injury crises as I think at times all clubs face this so let’s leave that one out of the conversation.

If there’s any more major issues please feel free to list.

Now , I do not have the answers , but could comment on each of the above however I thought I’d throw this open to the ST team as to , how would you improve each or a number of those issues???

Now it’s a given that there will be plenty of “ sack the coach “ responses , and fair enough if that’s your view , but surely even the most avid of you that are anti Seibold must realise it’s not just the coach that’s the core of our problems so I’d really like to hear everyone’s views on what the fix might be, so by all means “ sack the coach “ but please that’s not much of a response without ways to fix the other issues at the core of our problems.

Please feel free to add a major issue , and if you do I’ll edit the original post to reflect that as well.

In my opinion, our biggest problem is club ownership. Unfortunately, this problem seems unresolvable at present. While it would be great to find some real answers to the five issues raised above, it's unlikely that will happen under current ownership.

Our current owner underfunds our football department, and I believe most of the other problems are directly or indirectly impacted by this underfunding. Sacking the coach will achieve very little while this situation continues. In the end, it's all about budget and resources, and we simply don't
(and wont) have access to either, while our current ownership remains in place.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

It’s pretty depressing being a Manly fan currently , I’m not sure we are at rock bottom but we certainly are nearing those rocks.

I don't get that at all.
This year we started with high hopes, have lost our entire forward pack along the way yet still in contention for finals.
And DCE is almost gone! The future beckons 🙂

 

[The Who]

You want radical? I'll give you radical:
We merge with Newcastle and become New Manly.
We command the geography north of Sydney Harbour, through the central coast and north past Newcastle to the Queensland border. Imagine the junior talent in this region!
We play half our home matches in Newcastle and half at Brookie.
We add some blue to our jersey to embrace the Newcastle colours and come up with a design similiar to the jerseys we had when Pepsi was a sponsor.
Our logo becomes a 'Knight in Flight...'
Such a plan would improve our on-field results markedly. What is would mean for the fan bases of both clubs probably would be polarising.

 

[Wombat64]

To me it all starts at the top. Hard to move the club forward without having a very strong leader someone totally committed to building the club back into a premiership force, someone with excellent footy knowledge and connections within the game to wheel and deal and make shxt happen. Someone who has full and total control to make the changes necessary without fear or favour from whoever owns the joint. Someone who will take a long term approach and rebuild the club from all the angles that you highlight.

Easy job ....... ????

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

In my opinion, our biggest problem is club ownership. Unfortunately, this problem seems unresolvable at present. While it would be great to find some real answers to the five issues raised above, it's unlikely that will happen under current ownership.

Our current owner underfunds our football department, and I believe most of the other problems are directly or indirectly impacted by this underfunding. Sacking the coach will achieve very little while this situation continues. In the end, it's all about budget and resources, and we simply don't
(and wont) have access to either, while our current ownership remains in place.

I agree 110% with your very first sentence BUT this is more of a “ we are stuck with what we’ve got so what’s the way forward given that scenario “.

Whilst a super rich benefactor would make us like the Roosters or Bulldogs , that ain’t happening so we just have to work on each issue and come up with a plan to do the best we can.

It’s bloody difficult but I don’t think it’s insurmountable.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

To me it all starts at the top. Hard to move the club forward without having a very strong leader someone totally committed to building the club back into a premiership force, someone with excellent footy knowledge and connections within the game to wheel and deal and make shxt happen. Someone who has full and total control to make the changes necessary without fear or favour from whoever owns the joint. Someone who will take a long term approach and rebuild the club from all the angles that you highlight.

Easy job ....... ????

So you don’t think Mestrov is the man ??

 

[Wombat64]

So you don’t think Mestrov is the man ??

Based on our results and where we seem to be heading then no. He's not terrible, I mean he's at least stayed longer than most of the CEOS we've had and seems ro have the support of the Penn family. but the results are what they are and I agree with your assessment of the future. Our future is kind of beige ..... probably not bottom of the barrel but hovering around the bottom half of the ladder for the foreseeable future.

It's not an easy job or position to recruit but people like Gus Gould, Frank Ponissi, Nick Politis always find a way. No matter what, they just seem to get shxt done and they drag the club with them and you're either on the bus with them or they quickly chuck you off it. Obviously an NRL club is lots of moving parts but a really strong leader with a powerful vision and unrelenting commitment "to make Manly great again" would I think be a decent start.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Based on our results and where we seem to be heading then no. He's not terrible, I mean he's at least stayed longer than most of the CEOS we've had and seems ro have the support of the Penn family. but the results are what they are and I agree with your assessment of the future. Our future is kind of beige ..... probably not bottom of the barrel but hovering around the bottom half of the ladder for the foreseeable future.

It's not an easy job or position to recruit but people like Gus Gould, Frank Ponissi, Nick Politis always find a way. No matter what, they just seem to get shxt done and they drag the club with them and you're either on the bus with them or they quickly chuck you off it. Obviously an NRL club is lots of moving parts but a really strong leader with a powerful vision and unrelenting commitment "to make Manly great again" would I think be a decent start.

I’ve been fairly happy with Mestrov, he’s got the commercial part of the club on song , he’s definitely a “ Manly Man” and he seems to work well with Penn.

I don’t think our on field issues are directly related to him , so it’s an B+ on Mestrov for me , and sacking him and hoping for a better CEO is pie in the sky stuff ( with what Penn wants to spend ),

 

[Ohgeez]

I made a thread about it but the way forward is going to be November & making the correct moves. There is a huge amount of talent available as managers have timed it so players come off contract for the Perth Bears first season.

The talk about not being able to attract stars is completely overblown - we just haven’t had the money to do it. 2026 will be another write off & should just be a year of development for the young guys like Parra have done this season

 

[sheridanstand78]

This is a really good blog!

There are several issues in my opinion that are stopping the club being a force.

For ten years the club invested huge money in a few players and ignored the glaring weaknesses in our team.

Currently our club lacks leadership from the owners down to the players.

We have some players who at times behave like their bigger than the club.

The owners and CEO are far too reactive aa was demonstrated when DEE'S decided to leave the club announced after round 3 and an empty gesture offer made and rejected publicly, totally humiliation for the club.

Our depth and minor grades are a shambles! The coaching staff stick with players who don't cut it and don't give the promising kids a go.

We need a total reset, the cliques have to become one and invest in the team.

The coach is a nice fella and he's not strong enough tactically and doesn't have the players buy in, that needs to change.

We need committed players and especially a captain as its obvious the current team lacks resilience and conviction.

I predict next season will be better, Fogarty is a shrewd sighing and a game manager, something we desperately need.

We need to look at the UK and NZ for future recruitment and really get behind our local juniors and nurture them, it's so annoying to see so many of our juniors hit their potential at other clubs.

We need hands on owners, or add people who will!!

The club can rise again as our DNA tells you that!!

 

[Rocky]

I've seen the "we cant attract talent" line thrown around here a lot of late.

For me it is inconclusive, because we haven't had the cap space to be a real player for a long time. But also signing Fogarty for next year, is not nothing either.

It seems like we went pretty hard for Tallyn da Silva but perhaps that was good discipline (or lack of additional funds) not to top Parra's offer. We don't really know.

However we will know in November if, we aren't a destination because that's when we "should" have the money to make a splash.

 

[Brookie1973]

Sack the coach, invest in Manly DNA - coaching staff, juniors, pathways. Rebuild from the ground up with a passionate, development focussed coaching team.

Stop looking for a quick fix recruit until the building blocks are in place, then selective target who we need just like we did with Ben Kennedy. Go back to where we were in 2004/05 and use that as the blueprint. Forget the “premiership window” bull**** and enjoy the journey. Fans will stay on board if they can see the club building to something.

Without a billionaire owner, it’s the only way.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I've seen the "we cant attract talent" line thrown around here a lot of late.

For me it is inconclusive, because we haven't had the cap space to be a real player for a long time. But also signing Fogarty for next year, is not nothing either.

It seems like we went pretty hard for Tallyn da Silva but perhaps that was good discipline (or lack of additional funds) not to top Parra's offer. We don't really know.

However we will know in November if, we aren't a destination because that's when we "should" have the money to make a splash.

I don’t mind if the splash isn’t until 2027, but the days of buying 34 year old washed up forwards who can’t get a start elsewhere HAVE TO BE OVER!!

I don’t really care if we buy a heap of 25 year old forwards hoping that 1 or 2 become excellent , but wasting money ( other than 2026 on say Lodge / TKO as fill ins ) is a No Go!!

 

[Rocky]

I don’t mind if the splash isn’t until 2027, but the days of buying 34 year old washed up forwards who can’t get a start elsewhere HAVE TO BE OVER!!

I don’t really care if we buy a heap of 25 year old forwards hoping that 1 or 2 become excellent , but wasting money ( other than 2026 on say Lodge / TKO as fill ins ) is a No Go!!

Agreed that we should favour youth and mobility in our recruitment.

I was talking about more "top end talent" rather than the lower salary slots in the roster, in my initial reply

 

[Cliffycomeback]

I don't get that at all.
This year we started with high hopes, have lost our entire forward pack along the way yet still in contention for finals.
And DCE is almost gone! The future beckons 🙂

I know, I know. We are a huge chance to play finals.

stop( ); // Hammertime!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Agreed that we should favour youth and mobility in our recruitment.

I was talking about more "top end talent" rather than the lower salary slots in the roster, in my initial reply

I actually think the only way forward is to try and pick some young guns with potential , they’ll come as it’s a start ( cancels out our inability to attract stars ) , and hopefully within a year or two , maybe three , we get a crop of them coming through at once.

And then as we start to see a little success we begin to look attractive again.

Remember our decade of dominance started with three important signings.

Jamie Lyon
Brent Kite
Matthew Orford

All very established players but we had the makings before them with Watmough , the Stewart’s et al and they were the 3 key pieces.

Before that we were the basket case that existed post the NE debacle.

So it was done once , it can be done again.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

To me it all starts at the top. Hard to move the club forward without having a very strong leader someone totally committed to building the club back into a premiership force, someone with excellent footy knowledge and connections within the game to wheel and deal and make shxt happen. Someone who has full and total control to make the changes necessary without fear or favour from whoever owns the joint. Someone who will take a long term approach and rebuild the club from all the angles that you highlight.

Easy job ....... ????

Then you just need to time travel back to 1978, grab the then 48 year old Ken Arthurson - telling him we need him in the third decade of the 21st Century - to save the Sea Eagles from the beige-like mediocrity of an upper north shore (therefore non-Manly) nepo baby.

He will understand completely. But probably better to drop him into c.2006, sometime before the Penn family got their grubby hands on the leagues’ club. He can then tell the older version of himself: ‘Retire now (from the leagues’ club board) Ken, I’ve got this.’

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Currently our club lacks leadership from the owners down to the players.

This, really, is the barely beating heart of the problem. No real leaders anywhere, only people pretending to be leaders. Off the field, on the field, there's lots of posturing and lots of finger pointing, but nobody as yet has had the courage to even admit that we have a problem (we are a club in decline that insists on talking about a "premiership window", FFS), let alone taken it upon themselves to fix it.

So many words, so many excuses, but absolutely no real success for almost 15 years.

 

[The '47ers]

My greatest fear is if these "guns" coming through all fail to fire! Obviously a lot of pressure to put on young shoulders however if they do bloom it'll be a quick rise out of the doldrums.
But if not.....