I can't help but keep thinking that a fish rots from its head. The team has made the finals three times since Penn took full control. 2017 was thanks to Tom, Barrett was our coach FFS. 2019 was some Des and DCE magic, and clearly Des didn't have pressure on him that year, given Barrett nearly took that same team to a spoon the year prior. 2021 was Tom going absolute god mode and you can't reasonably expect him to do that again, and, unlike what many here like to think, Des and Bellamy being the only two coaches to immediately pick up on the 6 again exploits. I feel like Penn put pressure on Des in 2020 because of all of the media people hyping us up as "dark horses" as they have done this year, and in 2022.
The fact is, individual brilliance at times from Des (whether you like it or not, check the Rugby League Eye Test's 2021 review to see exactly why Des was absolutely genius that year), DCE and Turbo has obscured a management system that has only just become "stable" under Mestrov, an owner, who despite being based in New York and having literally no physical connection to the club itself half the time, clearly meddles with the team and it's direction, and a playing group and culture that has seemingly disintegrated since 2015, and was finally put to death in 2018.
If you think Seibold is playing Moneyball with player recruitment, then the club's coaching appointment's are straight up dumpster diving. Penn sacks Tooves for a season largely beyond his control, sets his fate, and yet he nearly makes the Top 8 by the end of it. I've heard internal rumours that he was sacked partly because Penn didn't like him on a personal level, and the same thing went for Des in 2022. I couldn't give a s*** about who Penn likes. I want us to win. He then proceeded to hire Barrett off the media talking him up (funny, how was Sheens was appointed to the Tigers, and why was Madge was sacked in 2022 again?). Barrett nearly gets a spoon, and despite him being a rubbish coach raises some important points about how massive of a cheap skate Penn and the club is. Not being able to afford desks is ridiculous, and points to other toxic elements within the club.
Then, he decides to hire Des, after he's been sacked by the Bulldogs and is embroiled in scandals. Accidental masterstroke by all accounts, and without a certain stabby bloke we likely would've made the finals three years in a row. Sure, Seibold has beaten Top 4 teams. But will we face them in the finals? Under Des that was nearly a certainty, and I'd prefer that any day over beating them in some regular season game and then missing the finals.
History has been rewritten about 2022 and I'm willing to fight for it. Tell me, when has Seibold's side beaten teams three weeks in a row? It hasn't at all, across all of last year and all of this year. We had a 4 win winning streak in 2022. We had several of those in 2021. Talk to someone who isn't a Manly supporter, and they'll tell you that they were scared to face us in 2022, until the pride jersey. We actually won consistently for a time there, and importantly, even without Turbo. We had some rubbish moments, every team has them, but we were on track for the finals, don't get it wrong at all.
Then the pride jersey. It isn't Des, or Seibold, or Barrett's responsibility, to fix a division among the players created by the club, play a player (Schuster) only because the club has spent so much money and time on him, or bring in your own equipment for training and admin because the NRL club won't. It's ridiculous that these coaches are blamed for some of these things. People can say "it's their side", but is it really? If you've got Penn staring you down from across the room, knowing that he doesn't like you, and that he can sack you, is that going to leave you entirely impartial in your judgement and thinking? Especially with Seibold also having his manager's concerns on his mind...
It seriously looks like we pick the cheapest coaching option available. Even our assistants, we went from Brad Arthur and Andrew Johns in 2013, to the old defensive coach from the Titans (what a record), and an attacking coach that the players said during the pride jersey aftermath, who "doesn't get involved enough".
Mestrov is doing a great job, but a pig with lipstick is still a pig. I can't help but feel his hands are tied behind is back. Do you think the issue of the revolving door of CEO's has gone? It can't disappear that easily, with the same upper management and board still here. It's likely appeared somewhere else, that I have no insight into. At least the Fulton's are gone, as are their vested interests, and their good friend Tartak.
I don't think Penn is actually capable of owning a footy club, unless he gets his hands off it. Half of these issues are his, and stem from his and the club's lack of direction.
And before you say Des is rubbish at the Titans, ask me, have the Titans ever done well? They're a poisoned chalice no matter who you are. Holbrook was a good coach, won the Super League, and you wouldn't be able to tell at the Titans. They're somehow managed worse than us.
