Manly’s Future – A Club in Decline?

[Brookie1973]

How great it was to cancel our memberships and they just said ok, didn’t even bother asking why. Seems like no one at the club really gives a stuff about anything. It’s pretty rotten from the head down

Someone else said the same thing a while back, and frankly, it astounds me that the membership team aren’t trained to at least try to keep people on board. It’s basic business. Our systems should be capturing the reasons, and Mestrov or someone in authority at the club should be contacting anyone who is cancelling for reasons which are deemed saveable. It’s a simple phone call or at worst, a prepared letter.

 

[Stewbojevic]

Someone else said the same thing a while back, and frankly, it astounds me that the membership team aren’t trained to at least try to keep people on board. It’s basic business. Our systems should be capturing the reasons, and Mestrov or someone in authority at the club should be contacting anyone who is cancelling for reasons which are deemed saveable. It’s a simple phone call or at worst, a prepared letter.

Yea that’s pretty lazy business.

I renewed, but I must admit the whole process was a shambles. I originally got two separate renewal reminders for different membership tiers. One was the tier I used to be on in 2024 and the other for this year’s.

It was on me to reach out to the club and ask why, to which they responded… but it was clear they knew they had made a mistake. Pretty sure they sent 2024 renewal emails out to everyone this year which is comical.

But it gets worse… in the 2025 renewal email they had the total amount owing incorrect. It was just the cost of the add ons, which I didn’t even get to choose this year.

When I emailed back about the price they just said “yep, sorry that price was wrong. You owe more.”

Not sure who they are hiring in the member department or how they are training them but it’s pretty poor.

 

[Rocky]

Cleary is not an elite coach, he's a good coach benefiting from an elite crop of juniors.

Yes he has benefitted from that. But he's still one of the best couches in the game for mine. So I'm happy with calling him an elite coach. Not sure who is obviously better than him besides Bellamy.

 

[Waz13]

Yes he has benefitted from that. But he's still one of the best couches in the game for mine. So I'm happy with calling him an elite coach. Not sure who is obviously better than him besides Bellamy.

Yep Nick Scali version when we have the KMart version.

 

[LeonardCohen]

Yes he has benefitted from that. But he's still one of the best couches in the game for mine. So I'm happy with calling him an elite coach. Not sure who is obviously better than him besides Bellamy.

Again, I think this is one of the scenarios that pop up on the forum from time to time where we're obsessed with the idea of a dichotomy; is it the players or is it Clearly, when it's both. He's an elite coach with a great roster. Put that great roster in the hands of Barrett and they don't win four on the trot. Put Cleary in front of the Titans roster and he doesn't guide them to four on the trot.

 

[silvereagle]

It’s becoming increasingly clear that many who were once proudly associated with our club are now choosing to walk away or seek opportunities elsewhere. Day after day, we hear of players wanting out, and potential recruits—both players and coaches—actively avoiding us. What was once a respected institution in the NRL now risks becoming a punchline.

Despite this, there seems to be little concern from our management and owners. The silence is deafening.

To make matters worse, I’ve noticed my membership was auto-renewed—despite having requested years ago that this not happen. I’m now seriously considering walking away from the club altogether until there’s meaningful change and accountability from the Board and Management.

I share your frustration but I think you need to separate the facts from the obvious bias against our club you see most days in the media. Sure we have just had yet another bummer of a year but I think we all know the issues. Until these issues are resolved I think we will continue to flounder in that bottom half of the competition. One of the issues has been a seriously imbalanced cap where we have had nearly 30% of our cap tied up in 3 players that in all honesty have not delivered expected returns. That issue will be eliminated for the 27 season and that gives the club an opportunity to rebalance the books with a different bunch of potential stars. The coaching (obviously?) also needs to be addressed and I suspect will be during or after the 2026 season.

So potentially another frustrating year coming up but who knows?? We have some good acquisitions for 26 and we have some serious young talent coming through so anyone's guess. Bottom 8 or top 8. Either way I think 27 looking like the year. Hang in there.

 

[manly al]

Not to be paranoid about future N R L club developments but still would not trust or underestimate the Nth Sydney Bears [or whatever is left of their organization ] underlying ambition to again be a stand alone club in the comp at the expense of Manly
Doubt very much that they will have that much influence or significance with the new predominately W A franchise , but still a bit of a leg up gaining some more prominence being included with this new club operation Have an establishes Leagues club still to boot also
Bottom line again still some 10 - 12 mil $ required to run even a basic N R L franchise and obviously still a challenge for some clubs , including Manly to manage somehow
According to those reports at the time , Manly came within a whisker of being booted out of the comp in 2004 if not for the extremely generous effort by Max Delmege to save the club from oblivion , then pretty much after 08 , the Penns the or one of the only reasons in the general circumstances to then keep the joint viable
No doubt , a bit behind in some relatively helpful areas now like stand alone junior academies , Know that the club is still trying and have definitely managed to either attract or develop a host of excellent juniors for some years now but those more niche areas like set academies , a definite advantage
Like poster Rafferty "s suggestion for the club to start [ or try to ] start some outside investment opportunities or operations like the N R L now or looks like a couple of other clubs but that would require any existing profits being diverted and doubt would be on a scale even for a basic worthwhile outside investment measure let alone the internal set up of the club at present , franchise wise
Looks like whatever format a Manly Leagues consists of these days is a help but in the bigger picture of additional revenue streams , probably in the small fry category unfortunately

 

[manly al]

Not to be paranoid about future N R L club developments but still would not trust or underestimate the Nth Sydney Bears [or whatever is left of their organization ] underlying ambition to again be a stand alone club in the comp at the expense of Manly
Doubt very much that they will have that much influence or significance with the new predominately W A franchise , but still a bit of a leg up gaining some more prominence being included with this new club operation Have an establishes Leagues club still to boot also
Bottom line again still some 10 - 12 mil $ required to run even a basic N R L franchise and obviously still a challenge for some clubs , including Manly to manage somehow
According to those reports at the time , Manly came within a whisker of being booted out of the comp in 2004 if not for the extremely generous effort by Max Delmege to save the club from oblivion , then pretty much after 08 , the Penns the or one of the only reasons in the general circumstances to then keep the joint viable
No doubt , a bit behind in some relatively helpful areas now like stand alone junior academies , Know that the club is still trying and have definitely managed to either attract or develop a host of excellent juniors for some years now but those more niche areas like set academies , a definite advantage
Like poster Rafferty "s suggestion for the club to start [ or try to ] start some outside investment opportunities or operations like the N R L now or looks like a couple of other clubs but that would require any existing profits being diverted and doubt would be on a scale even for a basic worthwhile outside investment measure let alone the internal set up of the club at present , franchise wise
Looks like whatever format a Manly Leagues consists of these days is a help but in the bigger picture of additional revenue streams , probably in the small fry category unfortunately

Meant an additional 10 - 12 mil $ on top of the standard N R L club allocation to even basically run a franchise

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Cleary is not an elite coach, he's a good coach benefiting from an elite crop of juniors.

So would you prefer to have the not elite coach at Manly, or the even less elite coach that we have now?

 

[eaglebuzz]

So would you prefer to have the not elite coach at Manly, or the even less elite coach that we have now?

Don't get me wrong, I'd have him over Siebold for sure

 

[Phobia]

I know many of you seem to think a lot of it is media narrative, pedalled only by agents, and that’s certainly true to an extent… But where was any of this in 2024, or 2023 for that matter? We were much worse in 2023, and there was nothing on this scale.

We also had the Schuster situation, and that didn’t blow out of proportion. Imagine if that occurred now?

We had many other large re-signings during that period, and none of them went anywhere near the media drama of this year. Some of them occurred without even a peep. Tartak, who is notorious for media narratives, had Olakau’atu extended on a massive deal, with little fuss. DCE extended back in 2022, completely under the radar. Compare that to this year.

Whatever has changed (and I do believe something has changed), it’s ruining our image externally. Sure, Tom’s manager was trying to get a better contract, but on multiple occasions he said that Tom was going nowhere. Why was it so different to the prior examples in the media then? How are we unable to properly communicate the value of a contract year-on-year?

I believe there is a lot of toxicity within the club at the moment. Ennis leaving due to “club politics reasons” sticks out, in particular. It’s a greater problem than Penn’s cheapskate antics IMO, particularly for the time being.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I know many of you seem to think a lot of it is media narrative, pedalled only by agents, and that’s certainly true to an extent… But where was any of this in 2024, or 2023 for that matter? We were much worse in 2023, and there was nothing on this scale.

We also had the Schuster situation, and that didn’t blow out of proportion. Imagine if that occurred now?

We had many other large re-signings during that period, and none of them went anywhere near the media drama of this year. Some of them occurred without even a peep. Tartak, who is notorious for media narratives, had Olakau’atu extended on a massive deal, with little fuss. DCE extended back in 2022, completely under the radar. Compare that to this year.

Whatever has changed (and I do believe something has changed), it’s ruining our image externally. Sure, Tom’s manager was trying to get a better contract, but on multiple occasions he said that Tom was going nowhere. Why was it so different to the prior examples in the media then? How are we unable to properly communicate the value of a contract year-on-year?

I believe there is a lot of toxicity within the club at the moment. Ennis leaving due to “club politics reasons” sticks out, in particular. It’s a greater problem than Penn’s cheapskate antics IMO, particularly for the time being.

Has there EVER been a year where it’s all gone smoothly , certainly not in my memory , maybe during the pre Super League war when we were a powerhouse but not since.

 

[Phobia]

Has there EVER been a year where it’s all gone smoothly , certainly not in my memory , maybe during the pre Super League war when we were a powerhouse but not since.

Maybe not smoothly, but it has been smoother, I’m sure of that. I’m not asking for all drama to cease, which is outright impossible.

However, it’s quite jarring how toxic the atmosphere has turned, within a relatively short period of time.

 

[mickqld]

Premierships in the last 20 years

Manly - 2
Broncos - 2
Cowboys - 1
Dogs, Eels, Warriors, Raiders - 0

We measure up okay to the above 'barracudas'.

Last 10 years

1 Prelim final loss
1 semi final win and 2 loss.
2 quarter final wins and 3 losses.
By any stretch that is a pathetic record for this club.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Maybe not smoothly, but it has been smoother, I’m sure of that. I’m not asking for all drama to cease, which is outright impossible.

However, it’s quite jarring how toxic the atmosphere has turned, within a relatively short period of time.

Yes but I also wonder if this isn’t more to do with journalists these days being paid by “ clicks “ , or if not paid , incentivised.

Because let’s face it , how much of the doom & gloom they preach actually comes to fruition ??

The answer is not much, Turbo going to Super League as he’s pissed with the club , signs a one year extension today.

So much is either made up , or comes from snippets given to the journos , and embellished by them to create more clicks.

In relation to the toxic atmosphere , yeah that’s stated by the journos but do we hear it from current, retired or recently moved on players ???

No we don’t .

Sorry but I really take very very little credence with anything I read in the sports press today , but it’s pretty clear I’m in the minority as the Facebook groups are full of doom / gloom / sky falling in / toxic relationships etc etc.

The Garrick one is a good example , supposedly leaving due to the toxic nature in the club , whereas the answer is probably more “ I reckon I can get a million from the Bears , or maybe two from R360 so let’s get my agent to stir up **** and see how much I can stretch the Eagles to “.

There is just SO MUCH BULL**** going on , so I don’t believe any of it.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Maybe not smoothly, but it has been smoother, I’m sure of that. I’m not asking for all drama to cease, which is outright impossible.

However, it’s quite jarring how toxic the atmosphere has turned, within a relatively short period of time.

I should add , we are all entitled to a view , not saying yours is wrong , but I prefer to believe that much of what we hear is nothing more than rumour mongering.

 

[Disco]

Last 10 years

1 Prelim final loss
1 semi final win and 2 loss.
2 quarter final wins and 3 losses.
By any stretch that is a pathetic record for this club.

Not claiming we are killing it but a narrative that we are unable to compete with clubs like Eels, Raiders and Cowboys is just not true IMO

 

[Wombat64]

We are not on decline.

We have already descend to a mid level club.

We've had nice things before but now we are also-rans and that is our lot. Also-rans can occasionally jag some wins and go deep in a single final series but live mid table.

Nailed it ...... we are small club, with a small budget and that is reflected in the quality of people (players, coaches and support staff) we attract these days. It ain't going to get better and us old bastards with memories of the good old days just have to accept "mediocrity" and settle for the small wins that we may have along the way ....

 

[mickqld]

Not claiming we are killing it but a narrative that we are unable to compete with clubs like Eels, Raiders and Cowboys is just not true IMO

It's not just premierships It's off field. Look at their memberships, their stadiums, their revenue streams just dwarf us these days. I guess having followed Manly for 50 years there was always a premiership on the horizon but the last decade we just aren't anywhere near it and I can't see one coming for a long long time.

 

[LeonardCohen]

I’m itching for some success but it doesn’t matter what happens because Manly isn’t just some hobby that I can park when things are going as planned…it’s been the backdrop of my life since I was a little kid. It’s like family and you never turn your back on family. It’s more than the players, the current administration and the current owners…it’s the club and its storied history that endure beyond the status quo.