Terry Zarsoff
First Grader
From Dan Walsh, SMH
Manly’s biggest need – emergency roster surgery – will linger after DCE leaves
By Dan Walsh
August 19, 2025 — 5.33am
Amid the season-long Daly Cherry-Evans saga, a Sea Eagles succession plan around Anthony Seibold’s eventual shift from coaching, the Manly old boys agitating for his exit far sooner and a 2025 campaign down the gurgler, two numbers stand starkest.
The slew of sidelined forwards watching Sunday’s capitulation to Wests Tigers, which wouldn’t give much change from $4 million.
And the back-ended deals of the club’s heart and soul, Jake and Tom Trbojevic, which next year will combine for around $2.4 million on the salary cap.
Misery has company aplenty on the Northern Beaches after three-straight losses that have torpedoed their finals prospects, an ignominious early end to what had shaped as the most promising season of Seibold’s tenure.
Jake Trbojevic is unlikely to play again this season, not that Manly’s finals hopes would have dictated his availability. His well-being was always going to come before taking the field, regardless of the stakes.
Three concussions in the past four months have an extended rest and precautionary neurological testing on the cards before any thought turns to playing on in 2026, and a possible contract extension beyond that.
Jake Trbojevic is likely to be rested for the remainder of the 2025 season.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Contract talks on reduced deals with the brothers have been ongoing for months, with Manly officials well aware their roster needs restructuring at the same time. This masthead reported in June that Tom has made clear he does not want any new contract to impact retention talks with key players, while Jake has long gone above and beyond for his junior club.
The current Trbojevic deals totalled more than $12 million when they were signed in 2019 under a previous Sea Eagles administration. Both were back-ended most heavily in 2026, the final year of each deal.
Along with Cherry-Evans’ seven-figure pay packet as captain and one of the game’s elite halfbacks, Manly’s salary cap configuration is the closest to that long-adopted at Melbourne.
The Storm’s famed ‘big three’ cap model around Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk has expanded to a ‘big four’ of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant.
Cameron Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen are Melbourne’s prize-winning match-winners.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Melbourne boast the best spine in the NRL and spend more money on their play-making quartet than any other side. They have long built around their highest earners with a support cast that punches above their weight under Craig Bellamy’s coaching.
Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic family money pit have been Manly’s backbone for more than a decade and are paid as such.
But as the trio struggle for form and fitness like never before, club officials are painfully aware of the shortfall in the rest of their roster.
Injuries to star forwards Taniela Paseka and Haumole Olakau’atu (who was upgraded on an eight-year deal worth more than $7 million in late 2023) have robbed Manly of their best big men this season.
Haas opens up on defection to Samoa
Payne Haas talks about his decision to change his international playing allegiance from Australia to Samoa.
A submission for Josh Aloiai’s medical retirement due to a shoulder injury has been made to the NRL. If approved, the club would free up around $1 million from their cap over the next two years.
Similar concerns are held for hooker Lachlan Croker given his concussion history. Nathan Brown has been sidelined with a ruptured biceps since late June.
Manly’s middle depth was already the biggest question mark over their title hopes before a ball was kicked.
“We’re probably missing some of our key guys, particularly some of our bigger bodies,” Seibold said after the listless 26-12 loss to the Tigers.
Manly coach Mr Blobby.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
“We lost the battle there in the middle. I can bull**** you, but that’s where we lost it.”
Manly’s injury woes have exacerbated their roster shortfalls, and the Sea Eagles concede that a more balanced approach to their cap is needed.
The club is actively hunting for front-rowers in a market short on them as veteran prop Toafofoa Sipley and utility Jazz Tevaga both move to Super League next season. Matt Lodge is set to be upgraded from a train-and-trial deal to Manly’s top 30.
Canterbury’s Jake ‘Dick’ Turpin is being sized up as dummy-half cover for Croker and teammate Blake Wilson as depth out wide, but big bodies are needed alongside incoming halfback Jamal Fogarty next season.
By 2027, the plan is for Manly’s salary cap to have a distinctly different look to it - with the two eldest Trbojevic brothers on reduced contracts, Jake’s by as much as 50 per cent.
As Seibold lamented with a nod to his injured forwards on Sunday though, “we’ve got no one coming back to save us.”
The next million-dollar question, though, is who comes in to save them?
Manly’s biggest need – emergency roster surgery – will linger after DCE leaves
By Dan Walsh
August 19, 2025 — 5.33am
Amid the season-long Daly Cherry-Evans saga, a Sea Eagles succession plan around Anthony Seibold’s eventual shift from coaching, the Manly old boys agitating for his exit far sooner and a 2025 campaign down the gurgler, two numbers stand starkest.
The slew of sidelined forwards watching Sunday’s capitulation to Wests Tigers, which wouldn’t give much change from $4 million.
And the back-ended deals of the club’s heart and soul, Jake and Tom Trbojevic, which next year will combine for around $2.4 million on the salary cap.
Misery has company aplenty on the Northern Beaches after three-straight losses that have torpedoed their finals prospects, an ignominious early end to what had shaped as the most promising season of Seibold’s tenure.
Jake Trbojevic is unlikely to play again this season, not that Manly’s finals hopes would have dictated his availability. His well-being was always going to come before taking the field, regardless of the stakes.
Three concussions in the past four months have an extended rest and precautionary neurological testing on the cards before any thought turns to playing on in 2026, and a possible contract extension beyond that.
Jake Trbojevic is likely to be rested for the remainder of the 2025 season.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Contract talks on reduced deals with the brothers have been ongoing for months, with Manly officials well aware their roster needs restructuring at the same time. This masthead reported in June that Tom has made clear he does not want any new contract to impact retention talks with key players, while Jake has long gone above and beyond for his junior club.
The current Trbojevic deals totalled more than $12 million when they were signed in 2019 under a previous Sea Eagles administration. Both were back-ended most heavily in 2026, the final year of each deal.
Along with Cherry-Evans’ seven-figure pay packet as captain and one of the game’s elite halfbacks, Manly’s salary cap configuration is the closest to that long-adopted at Melbourne.
The Storm’s famed ‘big three’ cap model around Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk has expanded to a ‘big four’ of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant.
Cameron Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen are Melbourne’s prize-winning match-winners.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Melbourne boast the best spine in the NRL and spend more money on their play-making quartet than any other side. They have long built around their highest earners with a support cast that punches above their weight under Craig Bellamy’s coaching.
Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic family money pit have been Manly’s backbone for more than a decade and are paid as such.
But as the trio struggle for form and fitness like never before, club officials are painfully aware of the shortfall in the rest of their roster.
Injuries to star forwards Taniela Paseka and Haumole Olakau’atu (who was upgraded on an eight-year deal worth more than $7 million in late 2023) have robbed Manly of their best big men this season.
Haas opens up on defection to Samoa
Payne Haas talks about his decision to change his international playing allegiance from Australia to Samoa.
A submission for Josh Aloiai’s medical retirement due to a shoulder injury has been made to the NRL. If approved, the club would free up around $1 million from their cap over the next two years.
Similar concerns are held for hooker Lachlan Croker given his concussion history. Nathan Brown has been sidelined with a ruptured biceps since late June.
Manly’s middle depth was already the biggest question mark over their title hopes before a ball was kicked.
“We’re probably missing some of our key guys, particularly some of our bigger bodies,” Seibold said after the listless 26-12 loss to the Tigers.
Manly coach Mr Blobby.CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
“We lost the battle there in the middle. I can bull**** you, but that’s where we lost it.”
Manly’s injury woes have exacerbated their roster shortfalls, and the Sea Eagles concede that a more balanced approach to their cap is needed.
The club is actively hunting for front-rowers in a market short on them as veteran prop Toafofoa Sipley and utility Jazz Tevaga both move to Super League next season. Matt Lodge is set to be upgraded from a train-and-trial deal to Manly’s top 30.
Canterbury’s Jake ‘Dick’ Turpin is being sized up as dummy-half cover for Croker and teammate Blake Wilson as depth out wide, but big bodies are needed alongside incoming halfback Jamal Fogarty next season.
By 2027, the plan is for Manly’s salary cap to have a distinctly different look to it - with the two eldest Trbojevic brothers on reduced contracts, Jake’s by as much as 50 per cent.
As Seibold lamented with a nod to his injured forwards on Sunday though, “we’ve got no one coming back to save us.”
The next million-dollar question, though, is who comes in to save them?
