BEHIND THE SPORTS DESK: The trials of Trent

VIDEO: Moose is joined by special guest Burls to answer the question: After multiple sagas have rocked Manly, is it time for Trent to go?

RUGBY LEAGUE: Trent Barrett's tenure as the head coach at Manly Sea Eagles has been all the rage this week, and it appears to be something that might not last much longer.

It has been a season of woes for the embattled coach, as he has been railroaded into an unenviable position by the club.

For starters, there's the salary cap punishments. Manly's roster is a complete mess. An unfortunate incident at a strip club in Gladstone. And the Jackson Hastings driven player revolt.

But should the blame fall on the head of Barrett alone, and after the mess that the Many side is in, is it time for Barrett to go?

MOOSE ELKERTON: Barrett should go out on his own terms

TRENT Barrett has been made a scapegoat and it is about time he turned his back on the Sea Eagles.

Barrett has been front and centre of the ongoing Manly saga, facing the press and taking the blame for all that has gone wrong at Brookvale.

From salary cap scandal to strippers to player revolts, it has been a tumultuous start to the season for the Sea Eagles.

This week was the first time Manly CEO Lyall Gorman took the stage in place of his coach, but it is too little, too late.

Too often Barrett has been left with egg on his face, many times for problems that have been out of his control.

Barrett has insisted he wants to see out his contract to the end of 2020, but it is understood that is mainly to support the growth of brothers Tom and Jake Trbojevic.

But it is probably a good idea to get those two out of the toxic Manly environment as well. The last thing we need is another Daly Cherry-Evans.

The club is in dire straits; the salary cap saga stripped the roster of its depth, and the surface at Lottoland has already claimed several victims including Lachlan Croker, Curtis Sironen and Kelepi Tanginoa who are all out for the season.

So desperate are the Sea Eagles, they are preparing to throw a lifeline to Moses Suli - a bloke so lazy he has been axed by two clubs already this year - just to avoid recalling exiled star Jackson Hastings.

And all of this is meant to be Barrett's fault. Cut your losses Trent, you're better than this.

Trent Barrett has moved Jackson Hastings on after his bust-up with Daly Cherry-Evans. Picture: Fox Sports/News Corp

ROBERT 'BURLS' BURLEY: Time for Barrett to be given the boot

SHOULD Trent Barrett go from Manly? Well quite frankly, yes he should.

I spent many of my younger years coaching football and cricket teams to meet the demands of; elevated expectations, team dynamics and on-field performance, setting them up for success in the future, the role of a great coach.

Normally, I lean towards defending coaches when they are targeted for poor on-field performance when everything has been achieved during training/team building. However, this is not the case for Trent.

Sure, Manly is not firing well, but player ability is not, in my opinion, the apparent issue. If we investigate Jackson Hastings as part of the reason he should go, then we have a prime example of ineffective/blinkered coaching.

Whether Hastings is incompatible with the team dynamic, or the playing group just doesn't like him is irrelevant. What is relevant is Barrett's role in this situation.

Barrett is there to guide, nurture and encourage the best from his players. A unified and uplifted team carries the tools to win every time they take the field.

His team is as far from this as is reasonably possible whilst he is innocuous and willing to stand back. As a result, his playing group is unlikely to follow his directions and objectives if they see them as unworkable and him as in-effective.

His only option now is to resign and get out of the way of any chance Manly has to turn around their season.

Originally published as BEHIND THE SPORTS DESK: The trials of Trent