Manly still paying former coach Trent Barrett’s monthly salary

A club car, a laptop and a whopping $54,000 per month — this is what Manly are paying former coach Trent Barrett to sit on his backside and do nothing.

No one at Manly is laughing now. (Adam Yip)

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Former Manly Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett has the best job in Australian sport.

He is being paid $54,000 a month by the Sea Eagles to sit on his backside and do nothing.

It is a far cry from last season when Barrett was a man under siege, battling club hierarchy and conditions that were so bad he even had to bring in his own backyard furniture.

He still has a club car and a laptop on top of his whopping salary and is on this incredibly generous deal for another six months courtesy of chairman Scott Penn and his failure to reach a settlement when Des Hasler started last October.

No one at Manly is laughing now. (Adam Yip)

No wonder he was in no hurry to chase the job at Cronulla.

Barrett has moved out of his northern beaches home and is now living on the south coast with his young family. He is tied to Manly until July and denies he spoke to the Cronulla Sharks.

“I’m just sitting back, enjoying time with my family and being patient,” Barrett said.

“I’ll watch a lot of footy this year and see what comes up.”

At least Des Hasler knows his way around the salary cap. (John Grainger)

Manly is also paying new coach Des Hasler around $700,000 on top of Barrett’s $650,000 a year deal.

Penn said Manly was legally obliged to continue paying him.

“It’s an outcome no one wanted,” he said, “If he could get another gig that would be great for everyone. It’s frustrating for Trent but we wish him well and hope he gets a gig.”

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