Bearfax
Grizzly old fart
The Penns in my opinion have done two things right. First to give Manly the money they needed to survive. More importantly bringing Fulton in to fix the mess they were making of the club.
There are things I dont like about what Fulton is doing such as his nepotism with his offspring getting jobs as recruitment etc people. I also think he's made some blunders especially with Gutherson, Knight. I dont know how much involvement he had in the Toovey issue because he came in after the Penns were already knifing him.
But Fulton did come in at a time when it looked as if Manly were definitely heading for the wooden spoon given who we were losing and the lack of new blood coming into the club. Whether you like DCE or not, he is a top tier half back and I believe we havent seen the best of him yet. Getting him back was a masterstroke. Sure there were some turkeys he brought to the club, but Taupau, Walker, Parcell, Tom Wright (Api was more Barrett), Fonua-Blake and even Myles are quality players and several will be in Manly's future climb back to the top. They wouldnt be with Manly but for Fultons involvement, and he did it with a shoe string budget given the backend contract issue with our former champion side. Sacrifices had to be made.
Add to that he is not scared to cull savagely where needed. The serious injury toll was not his fault but it revealed Manly's deficiencies big time. If we had kept our best side on the field we would have been well in the top 8, not winners but seriously competitive.
As a realistic businessman he knew what he had to do, even if it made him unpopular. For me he is following the Gould template. Whether he'll be as successful is conjectural, but things could have been much worse without his intervention.
He's a hard liner and isnt in it to get quick applause or to win a popularity contest. He makes the hard decisions, and I like that. I think he is what Manly needed at a serious crisis point in our history
There are things I dont like about what Fulton is doing such as his nepotism with his offspring getting jobs as recruitment etc people. I also think he's made some blunders especially with Gutherson, Knight. I dont know how much involvement he had in the Toovey issue because he came in after the Penns were already knifing him.
But Fulton did come in at a time when it looked as if Manly were definitely heading for the wooden spoon given who we were losing and the lack of new blood coming into the club. Whether you like DCE or not, he is a top tier half back and I believe we havent seen the best of him yet. Getting him back was a masterstroke. Sure there were some turkeys he brought to the club, but Taupau, Walker, Parcell, Tom Wright (Api was more Barrett), Fonua-Blake and even Myles are quality players and several will be in Manly's future climb back to the top. They wouldnt be with Manly but for Fultons involvement, and he did it with a shoe string budget given the backend contract issue with our former champion side. Sacrifices had to be made.
Add to that he is not scared to cull savagely where needed. The serious injury toll was not his fault but it revealed Manly's deficiencies big time. If we had kept our best side on the field we would have been well in the top 8, not winners but seriously competitive.
As a realistic businessman he knew what he had to do, even if it made him unpopular. For me he is following the Gould template. Whether he'll be as successful is conjectural, but things could have been much worse without his intervention.
He's a hard liner and isnt in it to get quick applause or to win a popularity contest. He makes the hard decisions, and I like that. I think he is what Manly needed at a serious crisis point in our history
