During their most recent contract negotiations with Manly, Jake and Tom Trbojevic requested a Des Hasler clause to be inserted in their deals.
It was designed to give them the freedom to explore other options if Manly and Hasler ever parted ways, such was their satisfaction with the coach’s maiden season in his Sea Eagles second-coming in 2019.
Jake and Tom Trbojevic asked for a Des Hasler clause in their contracts.Credit:Getty
For all of Manly’s faults, of which there are many, at least someone had the foresight (or memories of Hasler’s previous acrimonious exit from the club) to reject the Trbojevics’ requests.
It didn’t stop the brothers from signing a six-year extension worth close to a combined $13 million to keep them at Brookvale until the end of 2026.
Had Manly caved to the Trbojevics’ demands four years ago, those in charge today would be having some restless nights over what the brothers – described by many as the heart and soul of the club – would be thinking.
For all the talk about frustrations within the playing group, there is growing frustration from key players towards the club over an endless cycle of bickering and back-stabbing.
Manly’s Jake Trbojevic runs on to the turf at 4 Pines Park in the side’s controversial rainbow strip.Credit:Getty
The Trbojevics’ connection with the club runs deeper than most in a football team made up largely of players parachuted into the northern beaches from all corners of Sydney.
The pair want nothing more than to win a premiership for the area they have lived their entire lives, and for the football club they grew up supporting.
Even without a clause in their contract allowing them to become free agents if Hasler left, the forthcoming departure of the coach has cast doubts over their desire to remain at the club.
Those doubts have been triggered by an overwhelming concern that things at Manly will never change. Tom is 26 and Jake will be 29 by the time next season rolls around. They have told those close to them that they don’t want to waste the best years of their respective careers.
Trbojevic was the best player in the NRL in 2021, but injury cruelled him in 2022.Credit:Getty
Rival clubs are now queuing at the south side of the Spit Bridge as word begins to spread around town that the brothers may have finally had enough. That their loyalty to the club has diminished to the point where only the commitment to their teammates is keeping the pair from trying to escape.
The Herald has been told that word has gotten back to the Trbojevic camp that some inside the Sea Eagles are questioning their value to the organisation, in particular Tom. If those views were expressed publicly it would risk providing the brothers with the ammunition to request a release.
The fullback is on $1.1m a season but injury has restricted him to just 32 games in the three seasons since signing the mega extension leading into the 2020 season.
The Herald spoke to Tom on Tuesday. Out of respect for the club he decided against commenting on the situation unfolding, but admitted he was losing patience. Jake is in the United Kingdom with the Kangaroos for the World Cup.
When contacted by the Herald, new Manly chief executive Tony Mestrov strongly denied that he was behind a move to usher the Trbojevics to the exit doors.
In fact Mestrov insists he’s taken the opposite approach, arranging several meetings with the pair to make them feel the love from a club that is on the brink of a civil war.
The most pressing concern for the Sea Eagles is the future of Hasler, who is now threatening legal action against the club.
There’s no coming back from that. The Sea Eagles believe they can part ways with Hasler and only pay him the $450,000 termination fee they agreed to when they signed the contract.
Anthony Seibold is Manly’s preferred option to eventually take over from Hasler.Credit:Nick Moir, NRL Photos
Hasler, though, is aggrieved with the club because he believes their incompetence surrounding the handling of the rainbow jersey fiasco cost him the chance to trigger a one-year extension for 2024.
If he finished the 2022 season inside the top six, Manly would have had no choice but to give him another season as per the performance criteria in his contract.
When Hasler sat in front of the cameras in July, his decision to take aim at club powerbrokers for the mess his team found itself in put him on a collision course with owner Scott Penn.
The Hasler camp believes Penn, who spends most of his time living in New York, has been gunning for Hasler ever since.
Penn will get his man. Anthony Seibold will become coach of Manly. And the Sea Eagles will go on doing the same Sea Eagles things they’ve been doing the past couple of decades. But at what cost this time?
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