Manly coach Trent Barrett set to walk away from Sea Eagles at season’s end
MANLY Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett is set to leave his post at the end of the 2018 season as salary cap issues and staffing continue to dog the club. The resignation with a year to go is as mature as it is brave, writes Paul Kent.
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TRENT Barrett’s resignation with a year to go at Manly is as mature as it is brave.
It is the most solid example yet Barrett has what it takes for the top job.
Few coaches in their first job would have the courage to walk no matter how poorly the club let them down, as Manly has with Barrett.
Barrett extended his deal with Manly only last season … on the condition the club put the required help in place around him.
It was nothing more than what most other clubs already operate under.
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This year, in the absence of Manly fulfilling those conditions, the Sea Eagles have staggered from sixth last season to 12th with three rounds to play.
A bad final month and they could end up with the wooden spoon for the first time in club history.
Coaching is hard enough. Without the right support around, forget it.
The Sea Eagles hoped to keep Barrett’s resignation quiet until after the season but, in a small irony, their proactive approach to find a coach to replace Barrett, and hopefully have him in readiness for when Barrett’s announcement is made, has come to bite them.
Barrett would not comment on Tuesday.
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Sea Eagles chief executive Lyall Gorman on Tuesday emailed Sea Eagles members reinforcing his message that the club’s “singular focus at the moment is on its last three games”.
“To that end,” he said, “the Club will not be embroiling itself in the constant speculation around coaching movements either within our Club or indeed, across the NRL.”
Because Barrett is gone.
It is a bold step.
Barrett is 40 and in his third season as a head coach.
His pre-emptive strike appears designed to get out before his reputation is tarnished beyond repair.
The game is littered with one-club coaches who failed at their only attempt to make it as a head coach.
In most cases, their failings were beyond mere football matters.
Failure has a poor memory, though, and rookie coaches who end their terms without success are rarely given a second chance to prove their credentials.
There are 19 coaches from the past 10 seasons, some admittedly interim coaches, whose careers were cut short as one-club coaches after a failed first stint.
But they include the likes of Mick Potter (Wests Tigers), Andrew McFadden (Warriors), Dave Furner (Canberra), Kevin Moore (Canterbury), Geoff Toovey (Manly), Rick Stone (Newcastle), and Ivan Henjak (Brisbane).
All were eventually sacked.
All have so far failed to find head coaching jobs at other clubs.
In many cases, circumstances beyond their control contributed heavily to their sacking.
Barrett’s resignation is a chance to distance himself from a club struggling beyond his control.
Gorman is in the unenviable position of not wanting to mislead members while also trying to avoid the inevitable hysteria a confirmation would cause.
I asked him about it Sunday, easing in by saying there was a suggestion Barrett had already quit Manly and was now serving his notice.
“There’s a suggestion of that,” Gorman said.
“Trent and I have made no comment about any of that and we’re not going to speculate.”
Several times he said he and Barrett will sit down at the end of the season and sort through a “whole range of issues.”
It is no longer just a suggestion, it is correct.
It leaves Gorman in a tough spot for the next month.
The Sea Eagles are quietly sounding out replacements around the NRL so they have a ready-made replacement for when the news is made official but, this being rugby league, people are beginning to talk.
Any hope of getting the business done quietly is gone.
It has been a tough time in the coaching ranks recently.
Anthony Griffin was sacked from Penrith last week and Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary is heavily linked to the job despite saying he intends to see out two more seasons with the Tigers.
Wayne Bennett could be coaching anywhere next year, it goes, except where he is currently coaching.
News broke over the weekend that Barrett wrote to the club in July concerned at their lack of action in various departments, such as a general manager of football and a recruitment boss, and declining facilities that have fallen behind NRL standard.
The club is also anticipating the NRL will reject their appeal against salary cap cheating which puts the club on a $330,000 salary cap penalty for the next two seasons, making it difficult to attract players.
All were enough for Barrett to forward his letter to Manly, which was actually his resignation and his intention to serve notice.
An agreement was reached to bring forward the termination.
It is a brave step forward for a young coach, but it speaks of tomorrow.