Hey Isz,
Members get discount on gear from the club (generally about 10%) and there are regular specials offered (there were some "spot sales" last year where first in best dressed picked up beanies for a dollar from memory and things like that.)
I know several people who have had "Bird of prey" (Out of town memberships) that have recouped the cost on the savings on merchandise like shirts, T shirts and the like each season.
Unfortunately the club is heavily regulated by the NRL on what they can sell due to the licensing agreement as they are effectively a franchise and the NRL "own" the brand and issue it to the franchise under license (ie It's very difficult to make and sell "non" NRL stuff like the "Save Brooky" T shirts (funds went to the development fund) and the "Get Ready Manly is Back" T shirts that were produced a few years ago.
I had to follow a whole pile of rules to sell the "No one likes us" T shirts even though all profits went to the development fund (Luckily Dan was happy for me to sell them through here) - I couldn't take orders on the official site, couldn't use the Sea Eagles logo or the words Manly Warringah Sea Eagles etc.
I couldn't even sell them, advertise them or distribute them at the club or the game as that would cause issues with official merchandise stands and the NRL.
Funnily enough, although some people whinge about the members caps, stickers etc there have been several NRL surveys to members of all 16 clubs over the years and these types of benefits always come back as being popular additions to the membership packs (I've seen the results and it's quite surprising).
The difficulty for the clubs is that they can't compete on the volume discounts from suppliers that the big retailers can do eg Rebel etc hence to get a decent margin and ROI they often end up not being able to compete on price with the high street shops or mall outlets...mind you the club does do well from merchandise and especially items like the 2008 premiers T shirts were HUGE sellers and at a good margin - Kieran who is charge of that side is a top guy and I remember him meeting me at Narrabeen years ago to open up early on a Sunday so that I could collect a shirt for a guy from out of town that I said I'd courier to him at a game in NZ
