The Who
Journey Man
When you look through our top team you'll only see one player we bought as an established star - Jamie Lyon. Joe G was established but regarded by other clubs as over-the-hill. The rest of the team are either Manly juniors or have been nurtured from youngsters into the stars they are - stars that other clubs want to buy for their 'instant gratification'.
It is a credit to the Manly system that we can continue to develop nascent talent into top players, and is a major reason for our continued success.
But other clubs, such as Easts, Parra, Souths and Canterbury are always seeking to buy a premiership, splashing out big money on stars, most of who fail to live up to their reputation.
When fans/bookies/commentators try to predict the success of a club pre-season they invariably look at the 'stars' they have gained or lost. Little wonder most commentators write Manly off because we so rarely buy any player they know about. Yet they invariably wrongly inflate the chances of teams that have bought players who have had success at other clubs.
I'm sure we have another crop of talented unknown youngsters now being shown the Manly way who will develop into stars and be the envy of the big-spending poachers. And isn't it a much better way!
It is a credit to the Manly system that we can continue to develop nascent talent into top players, and is a major reason for our continued success.
But other clubs, such as Easts, Parra, Souths and Canterbury are always seeking to buy a premiership, splashing out big money on stars, most of who fail to live up to their reputation.
When fans/bookies/commentators try to predict the success of a club pre-season they invariably look at the 'stars' they have gained or lost. Little wonder most commentators write Manly off because we so rarely buy any player they know about. Yet they invariably wrongly inflate the chances of teams that have bought players who have had success at other clubs.
I'm sure we have another crop of talented unknown youngsters now being shown the Manly way who will develop into stars and be the envy of the big-spending poachers. And isn't it a much better way!