Toovey will hold Manly together, thanks to the ‘Arko’ culture

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

tookey

First Grader
Manly’s lifetime patriarch Ken Arthurson would never have let Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Daly Cherry-Evans, nor Kieren Foran go.

Not under any circumstances.

The man they reverently call ‘Arko’ was a one-club player (1950-1952) and coach (1957-1961), and a top administrator for over two decades, eating, sleeping, and drinking Manly.

Arko shared his all-round talents and communication skills with everyone who pulled on a Sea Eagles jersey. He signed players on to stay, not to leave.

Current Manly supremo Scott Penn is no Arko, not by a long shot.

Glenn Stewart’s departure was the first act of stupidity. Not only did Penn oversee the punting of a high-quality forward who has played at the highest level, but he severed the strong family bond between Glenn and his equally-talented little brother, fullback Brett.

South Sydney now have Glenn, who has shown in just two NRL games what a gem he is.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Penn was instrumental in packing teak-tough Watmough off to Parramatta, where the Eels have welcomed his proven talent with open arms.

Ah, but there was a reason behind getting rid of Stewart and Watmough – to loosen the purse-strings so Manly could retain crack halves Cherry-Evans and Foran. That’s turned out to be just as stupid as the first two, with Cherry-Evans off to the Titans, and Foran to join Watmough at Parramatta – both movements at the end of this season.

Human nature being what it is, and no matter how professional Cherry-Evans and Foran are, or will be, there’s a pall hanging over the club, still one of the most successful in the NRL.

And they will be again this season, despite the quadruple decimation.

Not possible? Oh yes it is, because of the Manly culture that was born on Ken Arthurson’s watch. Arko and his wife Barbara live on the Gold Coast, but the Arko culture is alive and well.

And the reason for that is current coach Geoff Toovey, who played well above his weight for as a halfback for Manly, NSW, and the Kangaroos.

After a disastrous start to the season – humiliated 42-12 by Parramatta, with Watmough having a big game, and the Eels scoring seven tries to two – the doomsayers were out in force.

Then Toovey stepped up to the plate in the second round with a 24-22 win over the mighty hard-to-beat Storm at Brookvale. The Brookvale faithful must have known – they turned up in droves, and will again on Friday night when Manly takes on the Bulldogs. The Dogs of course are coached by Des Hasler – another whom Penn let go, immediately after coaching Manly to the 2011 premiership.

Seeing Toovey hasn’t been consulted over losing four top players, all he has to do is ignore mahogany row, and concentrate on what he does best – winning rugby league games for Manly.

He’s the modern day Ken Arthurson, although I venture to say there’s none and Buckley’s of Geoff Toovey ever being on mahogany row.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/03/17/toovey-will-hold-manly-together-thanks-arko-culture/
 
Only problem he has no say in player retention or recruitment. I wish kelly would just do the job of running the business and let Toovey and Warwick do all the player recruiting. And if Toovey wants a player in his team, he should have final say.
 
I thought it was all Dave Perry's fault? And Toovey's fault too. Or so Phil and Deano, aka the "Peterides' Media Proxies", would have us believe. ;)
 
Whats done is done, the dysfunction has been highlighted over and over again.

The club must decide if they are truly going to back Toovey and allow him to build a team. This is a crucial call by the club.

I think its fair that Toovey will address his shortcomings with sound advice, he is still a young coach and he is the right guy to coach the team during this time.
 
He let Bozo Go @:cool:

This constant comparison to the Arko Era is futile - No Cap, No Player Managers, Player wages were less than the average weekly earnings up till the Super League War, Players were local and would not have been interested in chasing the dollars by relocating, etc
Plus Manly Leagues was thriving and supporting the FC

Fatty's release was as painful for Fans as Gifty's was to the clique, but was done for similar reasons @:(

Manly hopefully realize that the Season Ticket Holders are long term, even generational Fans who hold 2v in the highest regard.

So by all means get 2v a mentor, but any attempt to get him to retire or 'part ways', will be seen by we cynics, as the last straw in our financial support of the Club:cool:
 
Last edited:
I don't believe 2V has any real issues with the players, I think that's just media bull****.

There's certainly (from what we hear) a certain board member agenda, and I think most of the stuff the press talk about comes from there rather than the playing group.

I know Steve Gigg (the football manager) really well, he's close with all the players, and he'd be the one doing the "one on one" stuff and the players really respect him.

So I don't think 2V needs a mentor, I think a board member needs to retire and stop leaking **** to the press
 
There wasn't a salary cap in the Arko era.
True, and it makes a mockery of the original story that it's possible to keep every player when abiding by the salary cap rules.
However, Nick Politis comes from the Arko Era . . .
 
True, and it makes a mockery of the original story that it's possible to keep every player when abiding by the salary cap rules.
However, Nick Politis comes from the Arko Era . . .
And there was the local player rule that almost kept Manly from joining back in the 40's
 
This is from The Lurker at Sportal..

Tooves secret speech

IT was great to see Geoff Toovey take to the field to congratulate his troops following last weekend’s backs-to-the-wall win over Melbourne.
But what what his motivation for the unusual move? I’m hearing there was more to it than meets the eye.
The embattled Toovey wanted a quick word to his players away from the prying eyes and ears of the Manly officials - the men who are sharpening the knives to ditch him should the club fail to win early games.
Take it as fact - the Sea Eagles sounded out Toovey’s former assistant Brad Arthur about a return to Brookvale - and Toovey wanted to speak to his men away from the backslappers.
 
This is from The Lurker at Sportal..

Tooves secret speech

IT was great to see Geoff Toovey take to the field to congratulate his troops following last weekend’s backs-to-the-wall win over Melbourne.
But what what his motivation for the unusual move? I’m hearing there was more to it than meets the eye.
The embattled Toovey wanted a quick word to his players away from the prying eyes and ears of the Manly officials - the men who are sharpening the knives to ditch him should the club fail to win early games.
Take it as fact - the Sea Eagles sounded out Toovey’s former assistant Brad Arthur about a return to Brookvale - and Toovey wanted to speak to his men away from the backslappers.
Yes, so they keep telling us.
 

Members online

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom