What’s The Buzz: Sea Eagles stars sticking solid with Trent Barrett
Trent Barrett might be gone as head coach of the Manly Sea Eagles but he still has an unbreakable bond with the players and his former staff.
Trent Barrett might be gone as head coach of the Manly Sea Eagles but he still has an unbreakable bond with the players and his former staff.
Barrett was spotted at the Snake Gully Cup meeting at Gundagai on Friday with Kangaroos forward Jake Trbojevic enjoying a punt and quiet beer.
Des Hasler is settling in well as head coach but everyone is still extremely close to Barrett.
Assistant coach John Cartwright recently returned Barrett’s now-infamous backyard furniture from their Narrabeen training headquarters in the back of a ute to the coach’s home.
The Trbojevic brothers, Jake and Tom, had offered to do it.
Jake and Barrett spent the day at Gundagai races with former Origin star Shaun Timmins and Manly legend Warwick Bulmer, the old guy who leads the team song in the Brookvale sheds after victories.
There has been talk for some time that both Jake and Tom are still disappointed about the coach’s departure from the club and his row with management to get the players better conditions.
But Barrett has urged the brothers to get on with the job under Hasler.
“They’ve got to rip in for Des,” Barrett said. “You never waste a year in your footy career.
“I have absolutely no animosity towards Des. He’s a good bloke and I wish him well.”
Barrett is still on full pay (about $600,000 a season) but is on gardening leave. When his time is finished at Manly, he wants to head overseas to the US and Europe to check out the facilities at major sporting franchises.
He’ll certainly find an improvement on Narrabeen.
Barrett had a chuckle when we inquired about the whereabouts of the backyard furniture that he used to furnish the offices and team meeting room at Narrabeen.
“I got all my gear back thanks to Carty,” he said, “He kindly dropped it around to home.”
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