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Manly demolition opens trade season

So many of Manly's recruitment and retention issues were blamed on DCE. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Roar Guru
23rd October, 2014
15

Rest easy northern beaches residents, that crumbling sound is not a catastrophic failure of the Manly Dam, but the toppling of the Berlin-esque wall that divided the Sea Eagles’ Pittwater Road headquarters.

So with a splash of Penn family ink, most Manly fans are not only breathing easier but the rest of the competition can go about finalising their 2015 rosters.

Well, maybe not so Parramatta, who are still trying to locate the Hayne Plane black box amid patching escape holes in Brad Arthur’s Sea Eagle aviary.

Those of us on the outer should have twigged something was up in the weeks following the Rabbitohs’ day-of-days, with no confirmation of season-long rumours regarding the relocation of some of the game’s best.

With Anthony Watmough reportedly all but fitted for a blue and gold tracksuit, out jumps helmeted Hayne confirming funds for the unsettled Sea Eagle, providing Geoff Toovey time for one last investigation before adding his weight to that divisive wall allegedly driving away his premiership stars.

So what now? Nothing will surprise given recent events, but surely Watmough has one eye focused on becoming a 300-game one-club stalwart, or are we to believe fractured relationships make his position at Brookvale untenable.

And what of the Eels, will they steer clear of Choc’s ageing pins and focus – as Peter Sterling hopes – on a playmaker, like Kieran Foran?

Or will the Warriors trump the lot and sign both Foran and Steve Matai.

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Brett Stewart is no doubt still simmering over the entire shambles, but perhaps he’s warming to the idea of staying put rather than subjecting his twingey hammies to a Canberra winter.

Don’t forget Willie Mason is a likely Sea Eagle – albeit possibly subject to wall-demolishing fine print. So if Watmough stays, could Willie replace Fui Fui Moi Moi at Parramatta?

Whatever happens should be swift, and not long after the dust settles on work-site Brookvale.

Time is short, the list long, and that’s without considering the Dragon faces nervously peeping over the WIN Stadium fence… Time for a wrecking ball?

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