NRL 2018 season review: Manly hurt by numerous off-field issues
THE Sea Eagles are a far better team than their 15th placed finish suggests. But you can’t help but feel the off-field chaos tinkered with the heads of Manly’s squad.
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MANLY are a far better team than their 15th-placed finish suggests.
But you can’t help but feel the off-field chaos tinkered with the heads of Manly’s squad.
Following Manly’s Round 23 capitulation against the Titans — where the Sea Eagles gave up a 16-point lead to go down 42-34 at Brookvale — Daly Cherry-Evans did his best to put the onus on the players rather than the club’s administration.
“We are paid to do a job and at the end of the day, when you cross the white line, any player knows it’s business,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Headlines don’t make you miss tackles.”
The skipper is spot on, but when there’s as much external noise as Manly have faced this season it eventually has a negative bearing towards on-field performance.
From the Jackson Hastings fiasco beginning in Gladstone, to the Trent Barrett resignation late in the season, the club have been in turmoil from the get go.
But what makes it particularly difficult to stomach for fans is that the side proved on numerous occasions they’re capable of mixing it with the NRL’s elite.
Truly, it was a season to forget for Manly.
WHERE THEY FINISHED
15th
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Off-field chaos aside, Manly have a heavy reliance on Tom Trbojevic and Marty Taupau. The latter sets the platform for the entire side. Taupau’s offloading ability creates ample opportunities for second phase play, while he has one of the quickest play-the-balls in the NRL. When Taupau goes off, Manly switch off. Taupau has his first spell at a similar time to Addin Fonua-Blake, and the Manly go-forward takes a massive hit due to a lack of depth in the pack. Likewise, if Tom Trbojevic has a quiet week the entire side can struggle to fire with ball in hand.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
A shining light has been the transformation of strike centre Brian Kelly and rampaging front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake. Fonua-Blake evolved into an elite prop forward this season, taking immense pressure off Marty Taupau up front. Kelly has always oozed class, but has benefited from additional time in the top grade since debuting at the beginning of 2017. The fleet-footed Lismore product has an enormous future in the NRL.
STATS THAT SUM UP THE SEASON
Look no further than Manly’s performances against the competition’s heavyweights. Of the Sea Eagles’ seven wins, four came against eventual top eight teams including: Brisbane 38-24 (A), Melbourne 24-4 (A), Penrith 18-10 (A) and Cronulla 33-32 (A). On top of this they lost narrowly to Melbourne 14-13 (H), Roosters 22-20 (A) and Penrith 28-24 (H). Against bottom eight sides, Manly won just three from 12. It all makes for tough reading for fans who know the Sea Eagles have the ability to compete with the best.
KEY AREA THEY NEED TO IMPROVE
Manly are a top-ended squad. They have the big-money firepower in Tom and Jake Trbojevic, Marty Taupau, Daly Cherry-Evans and Dylan Walker, followed by lesser talents in Api Koroisau, Brian Kelly and Addin Fonua-Blake, but after that it’s slim pickings. It’s no discredit to the remaining individuals as such, but the reality is that when the inevitable injuries occurred it weakened the already unbalanced nature of the squad. Furthermore, the Sea Eagles rely so heavily on the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Cherry-Evans and Taupau, that there’s very little indecision in opposition minds as to where the attack is coming from.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON
For one sweltering Sunday afternoon in front of home fans, it seemed, for one day, that Manly were the real deal. In Round 2 against Parramatta, who were highly fancied coming into the season, the home side belted their opposition 54-0 in an absolute clinic. The 38-24 bashing of Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium in Round 10 as major outsiders was also a major highlight.
LOWLIGHT OF THE SEASON
If ever a team needed a win it was the Sea Eagles against the Titans in Round 23. In the lead-up to the match coach Trent Barrett signalled his intentions to leave the club, capping off the season from hell. Manly gave up a 16-point lead against the visitors to go down 42-34 in front of their home fans, who walked out on their side long before the hooter blew. A paltry 6,382 fans lined the hill, resulting in the lowest ever crowd average for a season in the club’s history.
BIG NAME RECRUITS
Kane Elgey (Titans)
BIG NAME LOSSES
Akuila Uate (Huddersfield)
2019: BEST POSSIBLE SCENARIO
Manly have the strikepower to be a force in 2019. If the club finds the right coach, among other key members of staff, success can return to the Northern Beaches. Making the top eight should be the minimum goal, and while they could become a nuisance come finals time, a premiership appears a few years away yet.
2019: WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO
They fail to restore balance to the club off-field and it sets the platform for another nightmare year. Injuries to key players early in the season expose their lack of depth, putting the Sea Eagles in major contention for the wooden spoon.
COACH SAFETY RATING
10/10. Surely you can’t sack the poor bugger who inherits this shambles.
Originally published as NRL 2018 season review: Manly hurt by numerous off-field issues
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