[Resurrected] Manly Daily on Recruitment

[Canteen Worker]

Eagles set to spread their wings

JASON AVEDISSIAN
24jun05

THESE are the five Sea Eagles set to go on the NRL's open market feeding frenzy next week.

Utility pair Luke Williamson and Shayne Dunley, hooker Chad Randall and centres Paul Stephenson and Steve Matai are all off contract and yet to settle their futures.

Manly CEO Pat Wilson yesterday confirmed the off-contract players are "no certainty" of being secured before the anti-tampering deadline of midnight on June 30.

He said the club was still assessing their financial situation with the deadline "at the forefront of everyone's mind".

Wilson refused to speculate on which players the club would prefer to retain.

"We are still working through salary cap issues," he said.

"They understand the situation and over the next week we'll get closer to defining our exact position.

"They are all in the same bucket."

But it seems Manly have reached a stalemate with Matai and Stephenson.

Matai's manager Gavin Orr said he was not impressed with an offer put forward.

"The offer is not what we think Steve's value is right now," Orr said yesterday.

"They've got to come back to us.

"If it comes around to June 30 and he's not signed, I'm sure someone else will."

It is believed Wests Tigers and the Sharks are interested in signing the young centre come next Friday.

"I'm keen to stay but we have to work something out," Matai said yesterday.

Meanwhile Stephenson appears certain to go on the open market.

"At this stage we haven't heard anything from Manly," his manager Sam Ayoub said.

"On that basis he will be (on the open market) come June 30."

George Mimis, who manages Dunley, Williamson and Randall, said all three wanted to stay on the peninsula.

Mimis said he hoped to meet the club early next week to strike deals for his contingent.

"They have got a good culture going down there and are keen to stay," he said.

 

[byso]

Be a shame to lose Dunley

 

[PEPSI]

yep i would love to be able to Keep Dunley, then possibly willow, although mayby im starting to sound like a congo liner there ? just think hes a good bloke who puts in, a bit like Monaghs and Byso!! hehehe

 

[Fluffy]

well it appears from this that Hecks and Kylie will be signed as well

 

[lasvegas]

i think it is a real shame to lose dunley and willo.i think we will miss dunleys creativity.

 

[Matabele]

noone is bemoaning the loss of steppa?

 

[Manly4Ever]

How will we manage without Steppa's 10 dummy half runs per game and his 200 half line breaks.

 

[Ryan]

MANLY'S RECRUITMENT POLICIES SUCK!!!THEY HAVE NO POWER IN THE MARKETPLACE - MY POINT WILL BE PROVEN THIS YEAR.

 

[Garts]

how does our policy suck Ryan? and what do you mean by no power?

 

[PEPSI]

the same no power that recruited the BKs when we were coming last..

 

[Magic_Menzies]

Manly must have signed some players from the UK if they are keen to release those 5 players.

 

[Garts]

they will resign 1 or 2 from that bunch. just waiting to see what else is out there and how much that what else will cost.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Only Dunley out of that lot would be a loss. However I'm living in hope that we will see Monas in the 9 next year and we have a halfback contingency plan. Mattai maybe worth keeping, but not at a premium.

Willo, whilst a solid toiler is nothing special and I'd rather see Glenn Stewart adopt his spot next season. We have to look to the future.

Steppa had plenty of opportunity this year and didn't really make much of it. However if Tezza doesn't back up next year we may be a bit light on.

More worried about depth on Wing with Donald going.

I think that the club has something in place, and no doubt they learnt a valuable lesson from last year with the Monas2 / Tahu / Lyon / Moule saga. I'd say they are just playing their cards a little closer to their chest this time around. I'm sure that we will be pleased come July 1.

 

[Ryan]

To clarify my point, if you don't think we payed way OVERS for Kite & Kennedy, with sign on fees etc, you are all kidding yourselves.

When I say pulling power, I mean the ability to pick up a player that there is a tug-of-war over. Kite & Kennedy basically had a done deal (due to LARGE amounts of money) before a dog fight was able to be insituted.

In the past 18 months, we have been in one way or another, in a struggle, or fight for Tahu, J Monaghan, Lyon, Moule, Williams, King, Orford etc etc. That is where I am saying we don't have the pulling power.

I WOULD like to add that I heard a rumour that King didn't want to sign because of his relationship with one of our management.

Just clarification.

 

[Volley]

Any team that is in the bottom 3 is going to have to pay overs for class players. That's what happened last year, and should now be different with a reasonably successful team this year.

 

[The Wheel]

Maybe a half back who will be released from another club might be on the way eg Firman or maybe Joe Williams

 

[Magic_Menzies]

I wouldn't want Williams, but if the Roosters release Firman and we snap him up I wouldn't complain.

 

[Fluffy]

theres not much point in guessing - your more likely to be wrong - as history prooves.

I have faith that there is a 5/8 or hooker and 2 outside backs to be targetted, min 2 will be blue chip.

Look for crusher to go on a PL spending spree as well.

 

[PEPSI]

im with Fluff, im not willing to give them a "Ryan" like spray till all the smoke clears.

Last year we bagged them for talking about all the potential signings now we are bagging them for not talking about potential signings..... jeeeez

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

Willo is worth hanging onto for 2 reasons:

1. He can tackle
2. He's a more than handy backup goal-kicker