Brent Read - The Australian
Manly centre Steve Matai will visit a specialist this week as the Sea Eagles step up attempts to have the former New Zealand international removed from their salary cap, potentially in time to enter the player market before the June 30 deadline.
Matai hasn’t been sighted at Sea Eagles training this season, although he is yet to officially end his career as the club looks to have him retired via career-ending injury protocols.
If the Sea Eagles are successful in arguing Matai should be removed from the cap, coach Trent Barrett could have money to spend before the June 30 deadline for player movement.
Alternatively, it could give Barrett extra wriggle room for next season. Regardless, the Sea Eagles need the matter sorted given it has dragged on for months, forcing them to put on hold plans to give the hard-hitting centre a farewell at Lottoland.
Officials remain determined to honour both Matai and fullback Brett Stewart in coming weeks, although they are likely to await a final determination from the NRL before doing so. Like Matai, Stewart has been a notable absentee from Sea Eagles headquarters this year, having spent most of his time in Melbourne, where he is a part owner in a restaurant.
While injury forced a premature end to both players’ careers, the news was better for backrower Jarrad Kennedy, who was cleared of a neck problem yesterday.
Kennedy was taken from the club’s training ground in an ambulance on Tuesday after jarring his neck during a contact session.
Manly training was delayed when the 28-year-old collapsed to the ground complaining of pain in his neck and a tingling sensation in his arm, five-eighth Blake Green conceding the players feared the worse when their teammate went to ground.
“He has been cleared of any serious injury but we were a bit concerned at one stage,” Green said.
“We were just doing a run of the mill drill. He just got squeezed up a little bit. When he came down he felt a bit of pain in his neck. He had some scans yesterday and got cleared of any serious injury.”
Manly centre Steve Matai will visit a specialist this week as the Sea Eagles step up attempts to have the former New Zealand international removed from their salary cap, potentially in time to enter the player market before the June 30 deadline.
Matai hasn’t been sighted at Sea Eagles training this season, although he is yet to officially end his career as the club looks to have him retired via career-ending injury protocols.
If the Sea Eagles are successful in arguing Matai should be removed from the cap, coach Trent Barrett could have money to spend before the June 30 deadline for player movement.
Alternatively, it could give Barrett extra wriggle room for next season. Regardless, the Sea Eagles need the matter sorted given it has dragged on for months, forcing them to put on hold plans to give the hard-hitting centre a farewell at Lottoland.
Officials remain determined to honour both Matai and fullback Brett Stewart in coming weeks, although they are likely to await a final determination from the NRL before doing so. Like Matai, Stewart has been a notable absentee from Sea Eagles headquarters this year, having spent most of his time in Melbourne, where he is a part owner in a restaurant.
While injury forced a premature end to both players’ careers, the news was better for backrower Jarrad Kennedy, who was cleared of a neck problem yesterday.
Kennedy was taken from the club’s training ground in an ambulance on Tuesday after jarring his neck during a contact session.
Manly training was delayed when the 28-year-old collapsed to the ground complaining of pain in his neck and a tingling sensation in his arm, five-eighth Blake Green conceding the players feared the worse when their teammate went to ground.
“He has been cleared of any serious injury but we were a bit concerned at one stage,” Green said.
“We were just doing a run of the mill drill. He just got squeezed up a little bit. When he came down he felt a bit of pain in his neck. He had some scans yesterday and got cleared of any serious injury.”
