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Sea Eagles back in familiar territory under the radar

20th December, 2017
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The Sea Eagles are thin on talent this season. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Roar Guru
20th December, 2017
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Right now, Manly are a club in crisis. Apparently.

Apparently the salary cap scandal is disastrous, catastrophic, fatal.

Sure, the eventual penalty may result in the club losing cap space for 2018, which in effect will render the search for a new number six dead and buried. It’s not ideal, but it certainly isn’t the be-all and end-all.

Hear me out.

Both Lachlan Croker and Jackson Hastings were Junior Kangaroos. For different reasons neither has kicked on like most expected them to. That doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten how to play, however.

Let’s remember that the Sydney Roosters, the undisputed kings of roster management and cap manipulation, once released James Maloney to accelerate Hastings development. A few months later Mitchell Pearce got on the drink and Jackson Hastings became the club’s chief playmaker. At 19.

It was a recipe for disaster, and Hastings was shipped out to Manly with little fanfare less than 12 months later. Apparently his attitude stunk and he struggled to give senior players the respect they deserved. If this is the case, Hastings will need to address it. With age, however, often comes maturity.

Now 22, a greater opportunity for the son of a Roosters legend to forge his own destiny may never arise.

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(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Similarly, family ties gave Lachlan Croker an exacerbated entry into the rugby league sphere. At the same time, though, he dominated in the under 20s for Canberra to such an extent that Ricky Stuart earmarked him as a future star in lime green. High hopes quickly faded as a result of injuries and the stellar form of more senior playmakers in the nation’s capital. Like Hastings, Croker was sent packing without as much as a goodbye.

If reports are to be believed, the nephew of Jason is training the house down at Narrabeen in the hope of finally fulfilling his undoubted potential.

Either one of these players can fill the void left by Blake Green, and the competition between the two can only be beneficial for the club. While Green’s composure will be missed, he wasn’t the heartbeat of the side. His loss should not be fatal.

Remember, Daly Cherry-Evans remains. As do the Trbojevic brothers.

The key for Manly in 2018, however, won’t be any of the aforementioned players.

Enter Shaun Lane. This guy legitimately was the next big thing when he burst onto the scene for Canterbury in 2015. Like the two young halves vying for the number six jumper, though, Lane also disappeared out the back door, shipped off to the Warriors before ending up at Blacktown all in the space of 12 months.

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While no reasons were ever given as to why Des Hasler shafted 2015’s hottest young forward, it may have been that the effort wasn’t quite there at training. Either way, time was on his side.

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

But at 23 that time has arrived. Last season Manly struggled for depth in the back row, and although Lane showed glimpses of his former self late in the year while enjoying an extended stay in the side, deficiencies were still clearly noticeable. Most of these appeared effort related, however, and a full preseason under Trent Barrett’s watchful eye and Dan Ferris’s rigorous training program will surely have the towering back rower primed and ready for Round 1.

If he does kick on, like he can, Manly will foster one of the most formidable back rows in the competition next season.

Staying with the forwards, Addin Fonua-Blake could well finish the year as the competition’s most improved forward. His cameos from the bench were vital at different stages last year, and with greater experience and maturity will inevitably come greater impact. How he didn’t get more game time for a below-par Kiwis side was one of the World Cup’s great mysteries.

Finally, it would be criminal to finish a Sea Eagles yarn without talking adequately about the darlings of the Northern Beaches. In 2018 expect the Trbojevic brothers to become the backbone of both Barrett’s Sea Eagles and Fittler’s Blues. The sky is the limit for these two superstars of our game.

In all, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles still have the ingredients to make a serious dent in the NRL in 2018. Don’t be bogged down by media innuendo; this is a side on the up.

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Bring it on.

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