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The Manly Sea Eagles – always one of the most political clubs in rugby league – have got a lot going on at the moment.
From fights at training over hair cuts to the challenge facing $800,000 five-eighth Josh Schuster to the on-going negotiations with Kyle Flanagan to champion player Tommy Turbo’s injury status, it’s all happening on the northern beaches.
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Manly Sea Eagles Press Conference | 06:59
For decades it was Bob Fulton and Ken Arthurson who ruled Manly. Given the club won premierships in 1987, 1996, 2008 and 2011 it’s easy to argue it was a period of sustained success.
Known as the Silvertails, for many years Manly were the envy of every other club in the league and had enormous clout.
But in the last 12 months there’s been an seismic power shift since Tony Mestrov was appointed CEO of the Sea Eagles.
The first massive play Mestrov made was sacking the coach who’d guided the Sea Eagles to the club’s most recent two premierships in Des Hasler.
Not content there the Manly CEO then also axed head of pathways Kristie Fulton the following week.
Now the club’s recruitment boss Scott Fulton has also opted to part ways with the Sea Eagles to take up an opportunity with Wests Tigers.
The challenge for new Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold is getting the best out of a roster assembled by ex-coach Hasler.
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History shows Des is a genius coach but can also assemble a roster bent out of shape as evidenced with some of the back-ended deals in his time at Canterbury-Bankstown.
Those deals are no longer allowed by the NRL but Schuster’s $800,000 contract has certainly raised plenty of eyebrows over the past week.
Schuster, 21, has only played a career total of 38 NRL games and for all his talent is still light years away from being an $800,000 player.
The Sea Eagles young gun is currently in the rehab squad working with boxing trainers, conditioners and a dietician to try and hit the right playing weight to be an NRL five-eighth. To date he’s only played three games this season.
On Saturday night the Sea Eagles got a timely reminder of what a champion playmaker Kieran Foran still is when he returned to 4 Pines Park in a Titans jumper, played busted and steered the Gold Coast to a much-needed win.
Foran wanted to remain at Manly but the club simply couldn’t get anywhere near the $600,000-a-season deal the Gold Coast offered him.
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Hooper weighs in on Reynolds spray | 04:51
The Sea Eagles have also got a rookie half by the name of Latu Fainu who is only 17-years-old and is already in the NRL top 30 squad on $300,000-a-season.
Fainu, long-regarded as an enormous talent, is on a four-year deal until the end of 2025 and is currently playing in Manly’s SG Ball side.
Manly are also in talks to sign Kyle Flanagan as a back-up option for Daly Cherry-Evans so the Queensland captain can avoid backing up after 48 hours after Origin games over the course of the next two months.
But the Sea Eagles remain adamant they will only sign Flanagan to a short-term deal.
Sea Eagles new coach Seibold is preparing to return to Suncorp Stadium to face ex-club the Brisbane Broncos in Magic Round in what will undoubtedly be an emotion-charged night.
Manly are also coming off an underwhelming loss to Gold Coast without their star player in Tommy Turbo who is expected to return on Friday night.
Flanagan’s time not over with the Dogs | 00:52
You get the feeling there’s going to be even more changes at the Sea Eagles in the coming months.
How good was it to see the Wests Tigers finally crack it for a win after 273 long days.
The football gods have certainly moved in mysterious ways there as Luke Brooks starred against premiers Penrith coached by Ivan Cleary.
The Tigers played a brilliant brand of football in wet conditions in Bathurst with senior players Api Korisau, David Klemmer and Alex Twal submitting outstanding performances.
Rookie fullback Jahream Bula was superb in only his second game in the NRL with the Wests Tigers looking to have unearthed another Keebra Park whiz kid.
Bula produced so many big plays from defusing Nathan Cleary bombs to the cover tackle on Cleary to throwing the pass for David Nofoaluma’s try.
It was an outstanding win and something for the wooden spoon club to build on.
What were your likes of dislikes in round nine?
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