NRL 2021: Manly boss Scott Penn addresses Sea Eagles’ shocking start
Manly’s chairman Scott Penn has gone public over how the club will handle the ‘unacceptable’ beginning to the 2021 season.
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Manly chairman Scott Penn has launched a staunch defence of under pressure captain Daly Cherry-Evans by declaring the club‘s $1.2 million man was going nowhere.
A gutted Penn has gone public with his view of the club’s winless start to the year, describing it as “unacceptable” while adding nobody within management ever saw it coming.
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After leaking 156-points in four games and in the wake of the Sea Eagles embarrassing 46-6 loss to Penrith on Thursday night, Cherry-Evans’ future at the club has been raised by NRL commentator Michael Ennis.
Ennis said on Fox League: “Daly is on $1.2 million, it is a lot of money out of your cap these days. He is a super player, and there would be plenty of clubs who would still be interested in paying good freight – he is only 30 years of age.
“Maybe Manly need to make a call like that to get themselves back competitive in the market to rebuild. Not to question Daly’s ability, just in terms of where Manly are at.
“His form at the start of the season is certainly not what you want from a guy who is their absolute man without Tom Trbojevic there.”
However, Penn has shot down any notion of the Sea Eagles forcing their skipper out of the club – despite their calamitous position of last spot on the NRL ladder.
“No interest whatsoever,” Penn said of replacing Cherry-Evans.
“The fact is, Daly is just down on confidence.
“And no one takes it more personal than Daly. He’s an outstanding player, but he’s like anyone who is down on confidence.
“Now is the time to work out how we build confidence internally.
“We’ve got three high-paid players (Jake Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic and Cherry-Evans) and that strategy puts pressure on them to perform.
“And when you lose one of them (Tom Trbojevic), it puts even more pressure on.
“This is unusual, I don’t think anyone was expecting this.
“I can look back and say we (board) were very confident coming into the year, no one was concerned about the roster.
“Yes, we’ve had a number of early injuries, which has disrupted us, but we can’t blame injuries when we’re getting some fundamental things wrong.
“We’re hopeful that when we get those fundamentals right and we get some troops back, things will change dramatically.”
Adding to the Sea Eagles woes ahead of their must-win round five clash with the Warriors next Friday is the threat of further injury concerns and suspension after Morgan Boyle was charged with a crusher tackle by the NRL match review committee.
Boyle, who suffered a shoulder injury on Thursday night, is facing a two-match ban.
Dylan Walker (hamstring) and Moses Suli (knee) both failed to finish the match against Penrith.
Given the Sea Eagles current state of sombre, Penn wanted to point out there “was no animosity or problems internally” within the dressing room.
“No one is pleased with where we’re at – it is unacceptable for everyone involved, including our loyal fans and members,’’ Penn told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s simple what is causing it – dropping the ball in key moments and we’re getting punished.
“When you’re on the back foot and searching for a win, you probably push things more than you normally would.
“It’s actually relatively obvious what is happening, it’s just got to be fixed.
“No one likes to get beaten the way we have been.
“There isn’t anything fundamentally wrong or any animosity internally, there’s nothing like that.
“But we need to look at doing things differently.’’
NO TIME TO ‘MOPE’ AS SEA EAGLES EXPLORE TRBOJEVIC RETURN
Kieran Foran has urged Manly fans to stick by the club but warned Sea Eagles faithful that Tom Trbojevic’s return from injury won’t pull the winless side ‘out of this hole’.
The northern beaches club slumped to four-straight losses after going down 46-6 on Thursday night, this time to the ladder leaders the Penrith Panthers.
The Sea Eagles have struggled to win games when Trbojevic isn’t playing. The record is now only eight wins from the 30 games the fullback has missed through injury since 2019.
After the match coach Des Hasler revealed he is “exploring” the idea of Trbojevic, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury, but won’t rush back the star fullback in time for round five against the New Zealand Warriors.
But Foran doesn’t believe Trbojevic’s inclusion will be the antidote to Manly’s problems, which include a leaky defence and the lack of any real strike in attack.
“You can’t rely solely on Tommy to pull us out of this hole,” Foran said.
“We’ve got 17 blokes out there that have got to take a look at themselves and we’ve got to find a way to get better.”
The Sea Eagles have now conceded 156 points in the opening four rounds of the competition.
It’s left the playing group shot of any confidence.
“Being low on confidence and things not going our way straight away, we tend to drop our heads pretty quickly at the moment,” Foran conceded.
“We don’t have time to mope around and feel sorry for ourselves, we’ve got to get on with the job.
“We need to fix what needs to be fixed and we have got to find a way to win. It’s as simple as that.”
Manly’s slow start to the season has been as much of a surprise to the players themselves as it has been to league fans, who expected a roster filled with the likes of Foran, Daly Cherry Evans, Jake and Tom Trbojevic and Martin Taupau to be more competitive.
“We certainly didn’t see our season starting like this,” Foran said.
“We put in a hell of a lot of work in the pre-season, we trained really well. So to be 0-4, it’s a hard one to take.”
The five-eighth urged Manly fans, who are used to watching their side succeed, not to lose hope in season 2021. Between 2005 and 2014, the Sea Eagles played in 10-straight finals series and won two premierships.
“This is a proud club, a club that has had a lot of success over the years,” Foran said.
“The fans deserve to come to Lottoland and see us in games and challenge for the two points. We’re not doing that at the moment.
“I know what this club is about, I know the people involved in it and the playing group we’ve got, the coaching staff … I know it will get there.”
Originally published as NRL 2021: Manly boss Scott Penn addresses Sea Eagles’ shocking start
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