tookey
First Grader
A FRACTURED Manly rugby league team will take to the field against the Canterbury Bulldogs tonight in a climate of hatred, hostility and shattered friendships.
When the Sea Eagles’ star forward Anthony Watmough pummelled his teammate Daly Cherry-Evans during a State of Origin match earlier this year, the tensions that had been simmering below the surface erupted into all-out war.
Watmough had told his Blues teammates that Cherry-Evans was vulnerable to sledging and on-field heckling. The young halfback was unfairly targeted by Watmough during the match and the big Manly forward was penalised for it.
The bitterness between the pair had come about because Cherry-Evans was seen as the new golden-haired boy by Manly coach Geoff Toovey. The coach offered the young star a new, improved contract and the simmering tensions erupted into an all-out split within the player ranks. Deep divisions over player salaries, and retention, were the crux of the problem.
Resentment towards Cherry-Evans went beyond money, too. Watmough did not like the media attention the young star received. He disliked even more that the halfback handled it with maturity and aplomb, something the forward had not managed to do in his troubled off-field career at the club.
His friends, the Stewart brothers — Glenn and Brett — are at the heart of all that is good and bad about the Sea Eagles. Prodigiously talented on the one hand, deeply divisive on the other, these two believe they represent the soul of the Sea Eagles.
While there is no doubt they have led the player group to become a consistently winning outfit in recent years, they have also put themselves above the club in 2015.
The Stewarts, and Watmough, will tell you they are the main reason the club has been successful. In short, they claim that without them the club will disintegrate.
Brett’s big brother Glenn’s release to Souths has caused such a furore at the club that the festering sore has become a full blown boil in recent months. The Stewarts have refused to put it behind them, instead opting to continue to agitate behind the scenes about the alleged injustice of Glenn’s release.
Things are so bad that none of the terrible trio speaks to Cherry-Evans.
Manly is a club that has been split on all levels for six years. A completely shambolic board has been reduced to two warring groups that no longer communicate with each other. The inability of the board to create a harmonious environment for the football department has led to splits in the player ranks, back biting and a gang of elite players who believe they run the place.
If not for the courage and tenacity of coach Geoff Toovey, Manly’s premiership quest would have imploded months ago. Toovey has somehow managed to keep it together enough to consistently produce winning results despite what goes on around the training paddock.
Toovey faces the toughest decision of his career. Does he let Watmough and Brett Stewart follow Glenn out the door in 2015 or does he enforce their contracts?
Bear in mind, this drama continues to be played out in September, when Manly is still, miraculously, a chance of playing in a grand final. In a deliciously ironic twist, the Sea Eagles tonight take on former coach Des Hasler who controversially left Manly hanging when he walked out the door to the Bulldogs.
Hasler knows only too well not to underestimate a team which has made a habit of adopting a siege mentality, even if the siege has been one of their own creation. He must find the new look Bulldogs a breath of fresh air when he reads about the detritus floating about at his old club.
League boss Dave Smith has made a lot of noise about fixing a coterie of troubled clubs within the NRL. So far, he has refused to face head-on the issues at Manly but surely the time must be nigh for a serious intervention.
If Toovey can coach this team to a preliminary final next week against Souths, he deserves all accolades. Facing adversity from all directions, he is a tough little campaigner but fractured teams are not in the habit of winning big, big matches.
Glenn Stewart and his faction will have a lot to answer for tonight if Manly bows out. When he reflects on his behaviour in recent months, Stewart might realise that professional football does not allow any player to exist above the realities of the salary cap, no matter how irreplaceable they deem themselves to be.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-manly-sea-eagles-family-tree-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-says-rebecca-wilson/story-fni3fh9n-1227064473590
When the Sea Eagles’ star forward Anthony Watmough pummelled his teammate Daly Cherry-Evans during a State of Origin match earlier this year, the tensions that had been simmering below the surface erupted into all-out war.
Watmough had told his Blues teammates that Cherry-Evans was vulnerable to sledging and on-field heckling. The young halfback was unfairly targeted by Watmough during the match and the big Manly forward was penalised for it.
The bitterness between the pair had come about because Cherry-Evans was seen as the new golden-haired boy by Manly coach Geoff Toovey. The coach offered the young star a new, improved contract and the simmering tensions erupted into an all-out split within the player ranks. Deep divisions over player salaries, and retention, were the crux of the problem.
Resentment towards Cherry-Evans went beyond money, too. Watmough did not like the media attention the young star received. He disliked even more that the halfback handled it with maturity and aplomb, something the forward had not managed to do in his troubled off-field career at the club.
His friends, the Stewart brothers — Glenn and Brett — are at the heart of all that is good and bad about the Sea Eagles. Prodigiously talented on the one hand, deeply divisive on the other, these two believe they represent the soul of the Sea Eagles.
While there is no doubt they have led the player group to become a consistently winning outfit in recent years, they have also put themselves above the club in 2015.
The Stewarts, and Watmough, will tell you they are the main reason the club has been successful. In short, they claim that without them the club will disintegrate.
Brett’s big brother Glenn’s release to Souths has caused such a furore at the club that the festering sore has become a full blown boil in recent months. The Stewarts have refused to put it behind them, instead opting to continue to agitate behind the scenes about the alleged injustice of Glenn’s release.
Things are so bad that none of the terrible trio speaks to Cherry-Evans.
Manly is a club that has been split on all levels for six years. A completely shambolic board has been reduced to two warring groups that no longer communicate with each other. The inability of the board to create a harmonious environment for the football department has led to splits in the player ranks, back biting and a gang of elite players who believe they run the place.
If not for the courage and tenacity of coach Geoff Toovey, Manly’s premiership quest would have imploded months ago. Toovey has somehow managed to keep it together enough to consistently produce winning results despite what goes on around the training paddock.
Toovey faces the toughest decision of his career. Does he let Watmough and Brett Stewart follow Glenn out the door in 2015 or does he enforce their contracts?
Bear in mind, this drama continues to be played out in September, when Manly is still, miraculously, a chance of playing in a grand final. In a deliciously ironic twist, the Sea Eagles tonight take on former coach Des Hasler who controversially left Manly hanging when he walked out the door to the Bulldogs.
Hasler knows only too well not to underestimate a team which has made a habit of adopting a siege mentality, even if the siege has been one of their own creation. He must find the new look Bulldogs a breath of fresh air when he reads about the detritus floating about at his old club.
League boss Dave Smith has made a lot of noise about fixing a coterie of troubled clubs within the NRL. So far, he has refused to face head-on the issues at Manly but surely the time must be nigh for a serious intervention.
If Toovey can coach this team to a preliminary final next week against Souths, he deserves all accolades. Facing adversity from all directions, he is a tough little campaigner but fractured teams are not in the habit of winning big, big matches.
Glenn Stewart and his faction will have a lot to answer for tonight if Manly bows out. When he reflects on his behaviour in recent months, Stewart might realise that professional football does not allow any player to exist above the realities of the salary cap, no matter how irreplaceable they deem themselves to be.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-manly-sea-eagles-family-tree-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-says-rebecca-wilson/story-fni3fh9n-1227064473590
