Manly coach Trent Barrett irate as Jackson Hastings drama refuses to fade away
MANLY coach Trent Barrett was seething on Sunday over the ugly Jackson Hastings saga coupled with a humiliating 34-point loss to arch rivals Parramatta.
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MANLY coach Trent Barrett was seething on Sunday over the ugly Jackson Hastings saga coupled with a humiliating 34-point loss to arch rivals Parramatta.
He was angry and irate — traits few have seen of the usually mild-mannered coach. The pressure is clearly suffocating at Brookvale.
And Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans admitted he was “not proud” of his two unsavoury melees with Hastings in Gladstone.
The crisis deepens at Brookvale.
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Barrett appeared reluctant to concede would he consider promoting Hastings into his side for Friday night’s important match against Newcastle at Lottoland.
Cherry-Evans — another pivotal figure in the drama — and Barrett were grilled over Hastings at the post-match press conference following Manly’s horrid 44-10 loss to Parramatta at ANZ Stadium.
The tension was palpable.
It was an embarrassing loss for Manly after a tumultuous week.
Barrett was clearly fed-up with media’s questioning over Hastings, who engaged in two scuffles with Cherry-Evans while in Gladstone for Manly’s round five match against Gold Coast.
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“It’s been a very, very ordinary week,” Barrett said.
“The last game only finished five minutes ago, mate, so I haven’t really thought about the side for next week.
“Can I just say one thing again, I said it the other day, the incident in Gladstone was a little bit of the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“This wasn’t isolated when I went bang, bang, bang and made a decision. There have been things leading up to that.
“That’s all I’m going to say on it. It isn’t the reason we lost today but it certainly doesn’t help.
“Who I pick next week … I will sit down on Tuesday and pick a side. I will not be answering another question on it.”
Barrett refused to blame the much-publicised issues in Gladstone for Manly’s two heavy defeats in the past two matches.
“No, no,” Barrett said.
“It’s hard mate, it’s really difficult but it’s my job to look after the players. The players have got to take some responsibility for it too.
“And so have I.”
It will be fascinating to see if Barrett sticks solid to his beliefs and picks Hastings in the Blacktown Workers team again tomorrow.
Cherry-Evans — fined $10,000 on Saturday — also spoke after the game, claiming he had made peace with Hastings.
“I have copped it all on the chin,” Cherry-Evans said. “I sat down with the club during the week and accepted the punishment.
“I’m certainly not proud of what has happened.
“I have accepted responsibility for it and dealt with it internally at the club. Hopefully today, we can all move on.
“The best way I can respond is to play some good football and while that certainly wasn’t the case today, I can’t wait for next week to come, it can’t come quick enough, to get our season back on track and show everyone what we’re capable of.”
Asked to describe his relationship with Hastings, Cherry-Evans said: “Mate, it’s fine. We cleared the air straight away. It was a shame to see so much written about it considering how quickly we moved on.”
Cherry-Evans denied the drama was impacting on his team.
“No, not at all — not at all,” Cherry-Evans said. “No, considering how quickly we moved on from the situation.
“There was no lingering awkwardness and we certainly didn’t leave it as an excuse to play poorly today, no way.
“I have done my absolute best not to read anything and to stay out of the newspapers. That’s really the only thing I could do, to stay away from it.”
Manly’s injury woes continued with winger Brad Parker injuring his knee yesterday while playing the ball.
It further depletes an already injury-ravaged playing roster.
“It was pretty indicative of our day.” Barrett said. “We are under the pump. We’re in a hole. The only way out is to stick together and fight our way out of it.”
Manly’s heavy defeat on Sunday comes just a week after last weekend’s 38-12 loss to Wests Tigers. That’s 82-22 in the past two games.
The result was a stunning form reversal from a round two game when Manly whacked Parramatta 54-0 at Brookvale Oval.
It was not only Parramatta’s first win of the season — it was also against the Eels’ mortal enemies. This was Parramatta’s biggest win over Manly in the club’s 71 year history.
Parramatta enjoyed a 7-1 penalty count in the first half, Manly’s completion rate sat at a lousy 58 per cent.
The Eels had a staggering 79 per cent of possession early. In fact, after just 13 minutes, Manly had made 61 tackles to Parramatta’s 25. It took the sting out of the Sea Eagles.
Manly was also hammered 13-6 in the penalty count.
Cherry-Evans kicked dead-on-the-full once from a kick-off and out-on-the-full another time. The match was a disaster.
“The game started off pretty similar to last week,” Barrett said. “Our energy at the start of the game, we defended particularly well, given the amount of possession they had.
“To be only 8-0 down with only ten minutes before halftime, was a good effort. But our own ill-discipline with the footy killed us in the end; just a lack of possession.”
Parramatta ran for 672 metres more than Manly. The Eels completed at 92 per cent.
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