Trent Barrett stormed out of Manly’s dressing shed at halftime of Manly thrashing
MANLY coach Trent Barrett stormed out of his side’s dressing sheds at halftime of their thrashing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters, seething at the embarrassing 34-6 scoreline.
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MANLY coach Trent Barrett stormed out of his side’s dressing sheds at halftime of their thrashing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters, seething at the embarrassing 34-6 scoreline.
The Sea Eagles were belted 56-24 by a rampant Sydney Roosters — the low point in a low season for Manly.
A shattered Barrett says he will apologise to the fans and former players who were at Brookvale Oval for old boys’ day.
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Manly are now just one win above bottom-placed trio Canterbury, North Queensland and Parramatta as they look to avoid claiming the first wooden spoon in their 71-year history.
Barrett spoke to his players for just a few moments at halftime before walking out of the sheds in disgust. He said he returned a short time later.
The heavy loss was in front of the Golden Eagles — Manly’s Old Boys who gather once a year to form a guard of honour for the players and complete a lap of honour.
“It looked like boys playing men,” Barrett said. “They just ran straight through us.
“The most disappointing thing — and the hardest thing for us now — will be to go over to the (Leagues) Club and look the fans in the eye and the ex-players after we have tossed that up.
“Defensively, we were not there. We were never in it, never in it. It’s not good enough.
“Thirty-six points in the first half — you just can’t do that. Defensively we were poor. That would be an understatement. You can cop losing if everyone is having a good crack.
“This is a tough, tough loss and we won’t forget it for all the wrong reasons.”
Asked what he would say to the fans and former players, Barrett simply said: “Sorry.”
When Barrett left the rooms early at halftime, Sea Eagles players were then left to search for answers.
Asked what the players said at halftime, Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans said: “We were just trying to find some answers. There was obviously a lot went wrong in the first half.
“This was meant to be a day we remember for all the right reasons but unfortunately it will be day I remember for a long time for all the wrong reasons; pretty disappointing.
“Defensively, I felt they were all over us from the very start to the very end. There weren’t any answers for us at any stage, which was the hardest part to take, that we didn’t weather the storm at all.”
It was the first time Manly conceded 50 points at Brookvale since 2003. It was also equal the most points conceded by Manly at Brookvale.
The Sea Eagles scored three second half tries but it was never going to be enough.
“Just because you pull on a jumper doesn’t mean you’re a first grader. You’ve got to aim up every week and we didn’t,” Barrett said.
“There were individual defensive lapses littered throughout the 80 minutes that just weren’t up to standard and we have to get that out of our game.”
Manly was actually completing at 93 per cent after 55 minutes yet were behind by 40-12.
“Yes we have some young blokes in the side and we could use that as an excuse but I can’t,” Barrett said. “They just got taught another very hard lesson.”