Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s highlights and lowlights: Manly Sea Eagles accused of snubbing club legend

Shattered Sea Eagles players walked straight to the dressing sheds after their golden point loss to the Knights, snubbing an 18-year tradition to honour a club legend who is battling cancer.

Manly has been accused of disrespecting club legend Malcolm Reilly in the aftermath of Thursday night’s golden-point loss to the Newcastle Knights.

Shattered Sea Eagles players walked straight to the dressing sheds after blowing a 16-0 halftime lead instead of taking part in the presentation for the Malcolm Reilly Challenge Trophy.

The two clubs have played for the trophy since 2007 to honour the legendary Manly forward and Knights premiership winning coach.

It has been an annual tradition since 2007.

On Thursday night Manly players were back in the sheds by the time Knights skipper Kalyn Ponga accepted the trophy on behalf of the club.

Manly players react after losing the golden point thriller. Picture: Scott Gardiner/Getty Images

Sea Eagles chief executive Tony Mestrov put it down to a miscommunication in that his football department was not informed before the game that the presentation would take place.

This excuse didn’t go down well with the Knights.

Especially as it has been a practice for both sides to remain on the field for the last 18 years.

And that Manly had actually promoted the fact on social media that the teams were playing for the trophy.

It was there on gameday morning in black and white on the Manly website saying: “His (Reilly’s) son Glen, who will present the trophy to the winning team on Thursday night, says his father is in good spirits.”

Kalyn Ponga with the Mal Reilly Trophy after beating Manly. Picture: Knights Instagram

We can understand the disappointment of Manly’s players but it’s no excuse.

Reilly’s son, who lives in Newcastle, presents the trophy after each game.

We spoke to him on Saturday morning about the situation.

“No comment - I don’t want to say anything detrimental about Manly in the press,” he said.

Malcolm Reilly is still recovering from a cancer scare that required surgery in England earlier this year.

HIGHLIGHT

Willie Peters stamped his credentials for an NRL head coaching job by steering Hull Kingston Rovers to victory over Sam Burgess’ Warrington in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley. Peters has coached in assistant roles at Souths, Manly and Newcastle, where Mitchell Pearce spoke in glowing terms of his technical knowledge and all-round coaching skills.

LOWLIGHT

An abysmal St George Illawarra performance against the Dolphins on Friday night, losing 56-6. Not one forward made more than Jack de Belin’s 70 metres.

SHOOSH

The Mal Meninga appointment to coach the Perth Bears from 2027 hardly rated a mention in Kerry Stokes’ West Australian newspaper on Saturday. On its website, the story was ranked below 17 other NRL articles that had no connection to the fledgling franchise.

Mal Meninga (C) with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo (L) and Perth Bears CEO Anthony De Ceglie (R). Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

SPOTTED

A huge weekend in frequent flyer points for NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo, who was in Brisbane on Saturday night for Adam Reynolds’ 300th game and then in Canberra on Sunday afternoon for Josh Papalii’s record breaking 319th game for the Raiders.

SHOOSH

Surely Reece Walsh did enough in his comeback game for the Brisbane Broncos to oust an out-of-form Kalyn Ponga from the Maroons fullback position.

SHOOSH

Tas Bartlett, the manager of Brisbane Broncos star Selwyn Cobbo, is fast running out of options for the out-of-sorts winger. Cobbo was dropped for the game against the Titans. Many put it down to all the unsettling speculation around his future. A good manager would have done a deal back in November last year when he became a free agent.

SPOTTED

North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payten riding shotgun with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell for the game against Western Bulldogs on Thursday night.

North Queensland coach Todd Payten in the Hawthorn sheds.

SPOTTED

Zac Lomax at Newington College 1st XV match against Kings on Thursday afternoon at Stanmore. The majority of the Newington rugby side are now aligned with NRL clubs.

360 VIEW

Catch you Monday on NRL 360 on Fox League with Braith Anasta, Gorden Tallis and Brent Read to discuss all things rugby league. The show will start right on full time in the Bulldogs v Eels game at Accor.

Originally published as Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield’s highlights and lowlights: Manly Sea Eagles accused of snubbing club legend