Monday Buzz: Salary cap failure sunk Manly Sea Eagles in 2023 – not the referees

Manly won’t be playing finals football this year and it has nothing to do with referees despite Anthony Seibold’s massive blow-up, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.

Josh Schuster has been inconsistent for the Sea Eagles. Picture: Getty

That Manly won’t be playing finals football this year has got nothing to do with referees.

They simply weren’t good enough and couldn’t match it with the top sides.

Yes, they had some tough refereeing and bunker calls in recent games but every club puts up with dud calls over 27 weeks.

A salary cap imbalance is more the reason why the Sea Eagles have missed the playoffs.

It’s hard when you have four players – Tom and Jake Trbojevic, Daly Cherry-Evans and Josh Schuster – soaking up more than $4 million in the salary cap.

It affects the overall depth of the squad.

When you get injuries or players away on rep duty the quality of the replacements is not as strong as other clubs.

Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold is dealing with a serious salary cap imbalance. Picture: Getty

Would Aaron Woods or Jakob Arthur get a start at the stronger clubs?

To blame match officials for a disappointing year is deflecting from the real issues.

There were games earlier this year in which they just didn’t aim up.

Losses like the one to the Gold Coast Titans at Brookie in round 9 become costly at the back end of the year.

Having Tom Turbo available for only 11 games hurt. So did Schuster’s hopelessly inconsistent form.

(His agent Mario Tartak has done the best deal in rugby league history by getting him $800,000-a-year.)

Anthony Seibold’s rant on Friday night after the loss to the Warriors was out of place.

Josh Schuster has been inconsistent for the Sea Eagles. Picture: Getty

You can understand his frustration over the Liam Martin knock-on the previous week and the dangerous tackle on his fullback Reuben Garrick towards the end of the Warriors match.

If the Garrick incident was not a penalty, the NRL needs to change the rules immediately to ensure it is next time a player is exposed in such a dangerous position.

Seriously, you could break your neck in a tackle like that one.

It’s an easy new rule: “No player can be tackled in the air defending a high ball.”

Full stop, end of story. Make it happen please Peter V’landys.

But back to Manly.

Overall, Seibold gets a pass mark for his job at the Sea Eagles this year.

He inherited a fractured club but turned them into a handy and more close-knit footy side.

Next year there will be higher expectations with the arrival of Luke Brooks. To make the eight they’ll need to play better footy – sort out their cap – and not just blame the refs.