As a Manly fan, I am happy with the events of the last week. The Penn buyout to end the boardroom bickering was great news (and unexpected), and now the club can build and move forward.
A new CEO will be able to end any animosity between the playing group and those in charge, and I like how our roster is shaping up for 2015.
While it is a shame to lose Anthony Watmough, he would be taking up nearly $1 million of our cap space next year. At his age he just isn’t worth that investment.
While we don’t yet know how much Parramatta will be alleviating from those salary cap pressures, Willie Mason and Feleti Mateo are ample replacements.
What disappoints me most about Choc leaving is that he is a life member and has played almost 300 games for the club. He has a chance to have a go at the all-time game record and it’s upsetting he won’t finish his career as a one-club man.
Still, Manly’s pack for next season doesn’t look too bad. While we have some great young talent in Sene-Lefao, Dunamis Lui, Jake Trbojevic and Michael Chee-Kam, the club lacked older heads to provide experience. Now we have that in Mateo and Mason.
While Mateo has been inconsistant at the Warriors, he was a great talent at Parramatta and can provide x-factor to spark second-phase play. Those who are knocking him might be eating their words next year as a change of scenery may do him wonders. Manly also have a knack for getting the best out of so called ‘has-beens’. Mason comes with a reputation of providing a lot off the field and he will be able to help the development of the younger players.
Our backline looks set to remain intact, which is a great boost. With Brett Stewart and Steve Matai sticking around, Manly still have one of the best backlines in the comp. I also loved hearing the Penn family refer to Daly Cherry-Evans, Kieran Foran and Stewart as ‘the big three’ – this is great acknowledgement of their influence and shows the club’s desire to keep them together.
While things looked all doom and gloom only a month ago, the sky’s beginning to brighten over the northern beaches – just in time for summer!
While I’m sure there will be masses of doubters as there is every year, I tip the Manly dynasty to continue and back the boys to make it 11 straight years in the top eight.
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