Matai and Stewart

[HoldenV8]

Killer is officially retired and is free to now live a civilian, golf tour life. Though I dare say in the coming years we'll probably see more of him than a few others from our last golden era.

Stewart and Matai however are still on the payroll. Not sure about Matai though I have heard he is in some sort of role with the club. But Snake seems to be spending his time in Melbourne these days (where he is a relative nobody according to the AFL biased media down there).

 

[Andrew..]

I find it really hard to imagine Steve Matai as being a trouble maker he just doesn't come across as the whinging petulant type.

Hopefully the club is still doing battle with the insurance company and the explanation is as simple as that.

 

[Danly Manly]

I suppose it's hard ........they played their last games with a green blob on their jerseys
........But seriously.. that green blob would have been my last straw too

My favourite jersey - The Marvel Daredevil jersey has those stupid green blobs! I wish i could get them removed somehow like a tattoo. Can this be done?

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

My favourite jersey - The Marvel Daredevil jersey has those stupid green blobs! I wish i could get them removed somehow like a tattoo. Can this be done?

You could try laser removal, as you would for a tough sticker.

However that might be hazardous, especially if you're wearing the jersey during the procedure.

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

I'd love to see Steve Matai come back.

It is amazing the difference between this year and last year at fullback; a crippled Brett Stewart that was trying to protect himself at every opportunity to TT who is taking forward hitups and trying to get his hands on the ball at all times.

Unfortunately I can't unseen Snake's last games.

Therefore you also cant unseen his 163 tries, as many try assists, his two premierships etc.
I daresay Brett is not in a good place right now. He wanted to play this year. Swansong matches. Do what he could. He's dissappointed, angry, probably with the club, Bozo, his knees, media.
He'll come around to loving the club again one day. Long term view. MWSE gave him the opportunity. Des. 'he'll realise it was a special time, for him and the club.
Dont think about his one bad year when he wss busted. Watch the replays ~ SEE his 12 great years. They outweigh the bad stuff. They cannot be erased.

 

[Fluffy]

Could it be possible that by not being involved and earning their money the club can claim the medical retirement from an earlier date?

 

[HoldenV8]

This is only what I have heard / read so don't take it as gospel.

Apparently one of the reasons Snake seems to have the $hits with the club is because after his 'demotion' late last year he felt that certain behind the scenes people who he thought were friends and supporters turned their backs on him once it became obvious that he was no longer the numero uno. He doesn't harbour any resentment to Tom for taking his spot because he knew it would happen at some point, but he does feel slighted by others. He genuinely thought that he still had more to give as a player and feels let down about the way its all ended.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

This is only what I have heard / read so don't take it as gospel.

Apparently one of the reasons Snake seems to have the $hits with the club is because after his 'demotion' late last year he felt that certain behind the scenes people who he thought were friends and supporters turned their backs on him once it became obvious that he was no longer the numero uno. He doesn't harbour any resentment to Tom for taking his spot because he knew it would happen at some point, but he does feel slighted by others. He genuinely thought that he still had more to give as a player and feels let down about the way its all ended.

Make of that what you will.

That would make some sense.

 

[MadMarcus]

A lot of sportsmen and women who have scaled the heights of their chosen sport find it hard to let go, and I suspect Brett falls into this category.

It's not hard to see why. His knees will trouble him for the rest of his life, and - as wrong as it may be - he will still be remembered by a lot of people for the events of the 2009 season launch.

He was a great champion of our club for a long period of time, and he will always have the memories. I personally think in 2008 and 2011 he was the difference between us being "contenders" and "premiers", so regardless of what happened at the tail end of his career as a fan I'm grateful for that.

 

[niccipops]

Snake and Matai are two of my all time favourites and still are, as with Jamie Lyon. That group also used to include Choc and Foz as well. IMO and it's just a theory at that, I think the bad blood between ex-players and the club began brewing in the De$ days with the siege mentality, the tightness of the crew surrounding Snake through his trial, the back ended contracts to stay together, etc.
Then De$ turned his back on his club, players and fans. This possibly increased the tightness of the old crew, and Toovey, the legend, held the club together. The decision to cut Gift caused an un-mendable player rift resulting in the Mighty Tooves suffering the worst treatment of any Manly player and coach. Replacing Tooves with Barrett left us shaking our heads and will never be forgotten. The mass player clean out has continued to see us lose fan favourites like Matty and Buhrer. The old boys have retired and our Golden Era is well and truly gone.
On the positive side we are now finally beginning to see a new unified culture in the current team. On Saturday against the chooks, the team, the bench, trainers, coaches and fans celebrated as one when Walker scored that last try.
From my point of view watching that moment made me realise we have a united Manly team back.
As for the old boys, they'll always be Manly legends and though I'd love to see involvement from them I'm not about to speculate as to why they're not around at the moment.
*Being on school holidays allows me to write big posts.
Go Manly!

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

A lot of sportsmen and women who have scaled the heights of their chosen sport find it hard to let go, and I suspect Brett falls into this category.

It's not hard to see why. His knees will trouble him for the rest of his life, and - as wrong as it may be - he will still be remembered by a lot of people for the events of the 2009 season launch.

He was a great champion of our club for a long period of time, and he will always have the memories. I personally think in 2008 and 2011 he was the difference between us being "contenders" and "premiers", so regardless of what happened at the tail end of his career as a fan I'm grateful for that.

Well said, MadMarcus.
Don't forget that whenever we're talking about Snake and Matai we're talking about two of the best players ever to have played for our club. I have never seen anyone do what Brett could do on a footy field and I've never seen anyone with more guts and heart than Steve Matai. I love them both.
We, and the Manly club, owe them. They don't owe us.

 

[Chip and Chase]

I'll be disappointed if we don't get a chance to say thanks to these two guys for their efforts over the years. Two absolute champions who should be remembered as club legends.

 

[Ned]

On Saturday against the chooks, the team, the bench, trainers, coaches and fans celebrated as one when Walker scored that last try.

Saturday??

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Snake and Matai are two of my all time favourites and still are, as with Jamie Lyon. That group also used to include Choc and Foz as well. IMO and it's just a theory at that, I think the bad blood between ex-players and the club began brewing in the De$ days with the siege mentality, the tightness of the crew surrounding Snake through his trial, the back ended contracts to stay together, etc.
Then De$ turned his back on his club, players and fans. This possibly increased the tightness of the old crew, and Toovey, the legend, held the club together. The decision to cut Gift caused an un-mendable player rift resulting in the Mighty Tooves suffering the worst treatment of any Manly player and coach. Replacing Tooves with Barrett left us shaking our heads and will never be forgotten. The mass player clean out has continued to see us lose fan favourites like Matty and Buhrer. The old boys have retired and our Golden Era is well and truly gone.
On the positive side we are now finally beginning to see a new unified culture in the current team. On Saturday against the chooks, the team, the bench, trainers, coaches and fans celebrated as one when Walker scored that last try.
From my point of view watching that moment made me realise we have a united Manly team back.
As for the old boys, they'll always be Manly legends and though I'd love to see involvement from them I'm not about to speculate as to why they're not around at the moment.
*Being on school holidays allows me to write big posts.
Go Manly!

Love your work Nicci, summed it up eloquently!!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I'll be disappointed if we don't get a chance to say thanks to these two guys for their efforts over the years. Two absolute champions who should be remembered as club legends.

Agree but I think you'll be dissapointed, it's possibly gone past that now.

 

[The Who]

This is only what I have heard / read so don't take it as gospel.

Apparently one of the reasons Snake seems to have the $hits with the club is because after his 'demotion' late last year he felt that certain behind the scenes people who he thought were friends and supporters turned their backs on him once it became obvious that he was no longer the numero uno. He doesn't harbour any resentment to Tom for taking his spot because he knew it would happen at some point, but he does feel slighted by others. He genuinely thought that he still had more to give as a player and feels let down about the way its all ended.

Make of that what you will.

He would have been better served by withdrawing from the team last season when it was obvious he was incapable of performing to his high standards. From a fans perspective it appeared Snake was disinterested, when the truth of the matter was that he was disabled.
However, whenever you take the field you are deemed to be fit, so he was doing everyone a disservice, even though it was brave of him to try to compete.
Snake and Steve deserve a good send off from Brookie, then the club needs to have them engaged with the team in some capacity for the rest of the season so they feel they are contributing and in some way justifying their salary.

 

[niccipops]

Saturday??

Oops Friday. The Premier closed the schools on Friday so we went off a day early. It felt like Saturday. Days rolling into one.

 

[niccipops]

Love your work Nicci, summed it up eloquently!!

Cheers Mark.

 

[R3]

My favourite jersey - The Marvel Daredevil jersey has those stupid green blobs! I wish i could get them removed somehow like a tattoo. Can this be done?

Absolutely! Here's a few DIY links for removing letters and logos off jerseys;
The guy in the 2nd link finds his third method the most successful but watch and give them all chance to see which technique will work best for you based on what you have laying around the house..

 

[Andrew..]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...i/news-story/007a01f96f24d8ddf07175446c69ede0





Sea Eagles still waiting on salary cap exemption to officially farewell legends Brett Stewart and Steve Matai
MATT LOGUE, The Daily Telegraph
April 3, 2017 6:18pm

HE is the Manly club legend being paid about $600,000 this season while he helps run a Japanese restaurant in Melbourne.

Despite a chronic knee injury forcing him into premature retirement, Brett Stewart is still on the Sea Eagles’ books for his final contracted season this year.

Throw in centre Steve Matai, who has also hung up the boots due to a neck injury, and Manly have more than $1.2 million of its salary cap sitting on the sidelines.

In a bid to clear this figure and sign players moving forward, the Sea Eagles applied to the NRL for cap dispensation earlier this year.

This submission was initially rejected by the NRL’s chief medical officer Paul Bloomfield — who ironically spent 13 seasons at Manly as the club doctor.

Bloomfield’s connections with the Sea Eagles prompted an independent mediator to be called in to resolve the disagreement between Manly and the NRL over Stewart and Matai’s medical retirement clearance.

This situation has dragged on for almost two months and is showing no signs of being finalised anytime soon.

Manly CEO Scott Penn told The Daily Telegraph the club remained hopeful of a resolution in the coming weeks.

“We are just waiting to hear back from the NRL,” Penn said.

However, a spokesman from the NRL said they were still awaiting information from the Sea Eagles.

These back and forth discussions continue to delay a resolution that would allow Stewart and Matai to have their farewells at Lottoland.

An independent doctor need to decide if the duo suffered one-off career-ending injuries that forced them to retire.

Stewart is regularly flying south to help out at trendy restaurant Toko Melbourne, which he has a financial interest in.

Under NRL rules, clubs can claim salary cap dispensation if they can prove a player was forced into retirement by a non pre-existing injury. But Manly have struggled to achieve this due to Stewart’s chronic knee injuries dating back several seasons.

Brett Stewart seems to be enjoying life at his bar Toko in Melbourne.
Matai, who has signed off on his termination papers, is also facing a battle to have his shoulder and neck injuries not deemed pre-existing and therefore exempt from the salary cap.

It leaves Manly in a precarious position moving forward.

While the Sea Eagles have to payout the final year of Matai and Stewart’s contracts regardless of the independent doctor’s decision, the club would benefit greatly from having their deals exempt from the cap.

It would give Manly the financial room to pursue new players for next season and beyond.

Despite having more than $1.2 million dollars of their salary cap on the sideline, Manly have started 2017 in style.

In a testament to the players and coach Trent Barrett, the Sea Eagles are sitting in fifth position with three wins from the opening five rounds.