The Manly club is finally looking up. Rewind back a year, and the club was in dire straits. Trent Barrett was in a coaching stand-off over unfulfilled promises, the salary cap saga doomed over their head and the results on the field were showing. The internal and external pressure was building, and for a side that had enjoyed so much success over the previous decade, it was a massive fall from grace.
Gone were the years where Manly was a consistent top four side, where they had the likes of the Stewart Brothers, Lyon, Matai, Foran and Watmough - to name a few. They were now fighting for the wooden spoon and the drama that seemed to consistently engulf the northern beaches club didn’t look like alleviating any of that.
Come seasons end, and the club was a laughing stock. They’d been embarrassed throughout the year with the strip club scandal, and it culminated with Trent Barrett handing in his notice yet still being deemed an employee as the club couldn’t produce a suitable termination package.
Des Hasler was brought in and that still added some fuel to the fire. The conjecture of his appointment, centred around his departure from the Bulldogs and the state they had been left in, brought further unwanted attention to the club, with the media and past legends questioning the appointment.
Fast forward on eight months and the decision is paying dividends. Hasler has brought back the Manly DNA, and although that may sound cliche it holds some value.
They’re playing like the teams of the past have done, competing in every game and having a real strong backbone in the face of adversity. Case and point, the win over the Rabbitohs at the start of the year, where they had no Walker and Tom Trbojevic, and Cherry-Evans left the field in the first half with an ankle injury. Their three main attacking weapons were gone and they ground out a tough win against arguably the form side in the competition at that time.
The win typified what Hasler had brought back and really reaffirmed why the Manly hierarchy was keen to bring him back.
They now sit fifth on the ladder, and look a certainty to make the top eight, a fantastic achievement considering they ran 15th last year.
There are now plans in place to make a $35 million dollar renovation to Brookvale Oval, and with the team’s resurgence in performance and Hasler back at the helm, things are finally looking up for the Sea-Eagles.
To really cement their future, however, and ensure that success soon returns to the northern beaches, the club NEEDS to lock up their two superstars - Jake and Tom Trbojevic.
Week in, week out, the two brothers are consistently in the top five of Manly’s best performers. They are both NSW and Australian representatives, with Jake a future Manly captain at the least.
People often talk about how good a role model they both are for the game, which they are, undeniably, but I think they sometimes neglect the fact that they are both two of the best players in the game, and they deserve to be talked about in the top echelon of players.
Tom is one of the most damaging outside backs in the game, and his versatility to be able to play anywhere in the backline only enhance his threat. He will soon be considered as one of the top five players in the game, if he’s not already considered so.
Jake is the best ball playing forward in the NRL, and he combines this subtle ability with his tough carries and fantastic defence - he didn’t miss a tackle in Origin II.
He’s so valuable as he offers so much more than other forwards do, he can provide the go forward and be a metre eater, but he also provides the link for the halves through the middle with his ball playing.
Their Origin II performances were nothing short of sublime, they were one and two in terms of the best performers and each showcased their vastly different, yet similarly world-class ability.
Which is why the Manly club should throw the book at the brothers. In my opinion, they both should be around the $1million mark. Other clubs would no doubt be willing to shell out the cash for them both, and the Bulldogs are already showing strong interest.
It would be among the biggest ever retention mistakes to let them go, and I hope the Sea Eagles wouldn’t be so stupid to try cut them unders.
There are players who are on that much money and don’t provide the return on investment they’re pay packet suggests, surely the performances from them both over the past three years and their cemented status’ as representative stars, would hold no such question.
The Manly club is finally looking up, they’ve made a great decision in bringing Hasler back and their performances suggest they will continue to thrive.
To sustain and excel, and bring the glory days back to the Sea-Eagles, the club needs to make the long term resigning of Jake and Tom Trbojevic, their priority.