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Bencher
NRL 2021: Manly owner Scott Penn’s bold premiership prediction for Sea Eagles
Manly owner Scott Penn is confident the Sea Eagles are on the cusp of a return to the club’s glory days — and has made a bold call on his expectations of another NRL premiership.Dean Ritchie Exclusive
May 19, 2021 - 4:00PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Manly owner Scott Penn has boldly predicted his Sea Eagles can return to the club’s glory days by winning a premiership within the next two to three years.
And Penn wants wily old coach Des Hasler right there to claim his third title.
Speaking before Manly’s massive game against rivals Parramatta on Sunday, Penn said the core of his side — Tom and Jake Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans — coupled with the club’s amazing crop of emerging stars can take Manly to the club’s ninth premiership.
After losing the opening four games, Manly have won five of their past six games and roared into seventh position on the NRL competition table.
The Sea Eagles have become one of the NRL’s most feared teams which will ensure a monumental match against fellow high-flyers Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium.
And with Manly’s brilliant rookies surfacing, Penn has forecast a grand final win inside the next few years.
“I believe we are genuine contenders,” Penn said. “We want to win comps.
“We are coming into our own again – in the next two to three years, we will definitely be contenders again — we will be in the mix again.
“This is what we have been building for. We still have a way to go but this, to a degree, is the new Manly.
“Things can change quickly but we definitely have the nucleus of a side that can compete for premierships – that is why we do this, that’s the only reason we do this.
“I think we’d all be delighted for Des to win his third premiership with the Sea Eagles – that’s why I brought him back in the first place. I knew he was the man to do it and now we have assembled a side that is capable of it.
“All this talent coming through, this is all part of the bigger picture. This hasn’t just happened. It’s been a long time coming.
“But we have to prove ourselves against the existing contenders. If we can give them a run for their money then anything can happen.”
Manly has unearthed a batch of super kids including Haumole Olakau’atu, Sean Keppie, Josh Schuster, Taniela Paseka and Toafofoa Sipley.
Penn said he is reminded of previous eras — around 2004 and 2010 — when Manly built premiership-winning teams around youth.
“Josh Schuster is already a phenomenal talent and he is part of our exciting future, as are a number of our up-and-coming players,” Penn said.
“It is really exciting to see them get a taste of first grade and making it their own. There is the same sense that we had back in 2004 and 2005 when the Stewart brothers and a lot of younger players were coming through. It has that same feel.
“They proved themselves pretty quickly and then we started to go deep into the finals. And then it happened in 2010 and 2011 with an under-20s team when Daly (Cherry-Evans) and ‘Foz’ (Kieran Foran) came through. It was fantastic.”
Victory on Sunday against the Eels would send shockwaves through the NRL, with the Sea Eagles still $26 to win the premiership.
The team everyone loves to hate could be hated once again.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves but we definitely have momentum and that’s exactly what we wanted,” Penn said.
“The performances we have seen over the last six weeks have been outstanding but we still have to step it up. If we can continue that form then we will be super competitive.
“Manly and Parramatta have a long-term rivalry that I grew up with and I’m excited for the game. I’m looking forward to our boys competing at that level and showing everyone what they’ve got.”
Manly started the season horribly with successive losses to Sydney Roosters, South Sydney, St George Illawarra and Penrith.
“We certainly had some discussions with Des. He was disappointed with the performances but he wasn’t panicking,” Penn said. “We all agreed that we wanted to see some turnaround in the near future but no-one was pressing the panic button and we are glad that what we were hoping would happen has happened."
“Everyone internally had a deep belief that there was nothing fundamentally wrong — we just weren’t respecting the ball and weren’t doing the things in defence that we had trained all off-season for.”
Parramatta officials continue to predict a crowd of nearly 30,000 for the big match.
