Please don't read if you don't want to hear a rant 😉
First off, apologies for being a negative Nancy lately with our lack of quality signings. I've been thinking of the reasons why we may be missing out on talent, and believe a lot of it may come down to John Cartwright.
John Cartwright is our Metro based recruitment Officer, and Scott Fulton is our regional based recruitment officer (since Bob Fulton left, who operated both roles).
As we all know, John has been positioning himself to leave the Sea Eagles (some reports are that should Anthony Griffin not cut the mustard at Penrith, John has been positioning himself with a move back to the mountains), but we know as fact (at least), that John applied for the NSW State of Origin role (along with 3 others), but John was cut first from selection, with it going down to a 2 horse race between Brad Fittler and Michael Mcguire.
You will also notice that John has been positioning himself with various representative squads, so that his resume & experience are getting richer (and why not, who doesn't want to progress their careers, right?).
This leads me to his position here at Manly as a recruitment officer. Yes, when Bob Fulton came in, we were able to secure a lot of top notch talent, but when Bob WASN'T here, the ability to attract players has completely dried up. Is John Cartwright's head in the job here at Manly, given all his representative secondments? Given his desire to be looking to get out all together (as seen with his application for the full time State of Origin role) & other representative activity?
I admit, I have not felt Cartwright's heart was in Manly, from the day we were playing Penrith at Brookvale, and the Panthers began steam rolling over the top of us. Poor old Trent Barrett was ropeable and gutted, and smashed the phone handset down on the table in front of him, all the while Cartwright was laughing. Very, VERY poor look for Cartwight - amazing for Trent, showing how his heart was on the line with our result.
I have heard that Cartwright doesn't say much (at all) at training, is very quiet game day. Most of the talking came down to Trent Barrett, and Willie Peters (who would actually get onto the field in warm up, and physically help the team, while Cartwright would stand on the field on his own, doing nothing).
I also admit, that I'm not happy in Cartwright luring Nate Myles and Dan Ferris to the club. Willie Peters (I can tell you straight up) was loved by the staff AND players, but felt so bullied by Ferris, he exploded at a work function. I wrote to Willie, recommending he go to The players Association about that. There needs to be some form of Union process. I've said all along, I'd have loved to get Donny Singe back, and he himself said to me, that if the club offered, he'd be keen.
So with everything else going on for John Cartwright, how much time is left over to focus on attaining recruits for the maroon and white? Is his heart here? We KNOW he wants out (he's applied for jobs - he just hasn't got them). Therefore, I say THIS is why we are in our current predicament. I'm SURE the club didn't want to be in a position that we were going into the season with this many unknown quantities needing to be relied upon, and positions that aren't certain.
If I'm Lyall Gorman, I'm looking for a recruitment officer who is knowledgable, passionate about the entity they are working for at any given point in time, an entity that wants to be there full stop, an entity that cares about the on field fortunes of our team.
I'm not sure John Cartwright is that, for us. Sorry guys, but really wanted to get that off my chest.
/rant