Manly need to forget about "Giftygate"

Poor Buhrer. He's become a player in the vein of Gidley or Hasler... destined to play his entire rep career off the bench, on account of being a utility player. Manly have done some good work bulking him up, but I think he's lost an ounce of speed and endurance. He used to have much better support play. If you watch stuff from 2011 or 2012, he's always chasing Cherry-Evans or Stewart in support whenever there's a break.

Roosters DO have juniors... they're just as rare as chicken's teeth. Thankfully, Manly have an excellent exhibit in Tom Symonds.

it's only unfair when its your club, all the other deals being done draw calls of the opposition being salary cap rorters!! Broncos have been accused forever but some of the guys who got into origin teams from there would never have made it if playing elsewhere. Carl Webb/David Stagg/Shaun Berrigan/Mick De Vere/Paul Hauff/Mark Hohn/Peter Ryan/Brad Meyers/Dane Carlaw and countless others all benefited from being at the broncos with good players around them & the broncos copped flak for having a state team under the salary cap. Good as they were at club level, would any of that lot be considered lay down certainties for origin if playing elsewhere? Not sure how the rabbitohs can keep signing players to big contracts but obviously rusty can pull strings for them behind the scenes. Same as the roosters, when will they be paying the young guys what they're worth on the open market. It's refreshing to see a player like Corey Parker want to stay at a club for life, passing up bigger money because they appreciate the opportunities they've been given & how much money is enough.

It was thought that Matai would have to leave in 2010 due to the cap and he ended up staying. The players need to realise that once they hit 30 they won't get money as good as they're currently on (from their current club at least) - that's just the nature of the game.

How bout this...Matai has kind of threatened that if Glenn leaves, a lot of the senior players will want to go as well i.e. Watmough, Foran, Matai, Brett. Highly doubt they will all be able to fit at the one club so any such move will be out of spite. Pretty poor attitude in my opinion.

His loss would be massive, I agree, but Manly have shown in big games over the past 12 months or so that they can win without Brett and/or Glenn.

And have drip-fed in a quality load of younger players over the years eg. Taufua, Foran, DCE, Horo, Buhrer, Lawrence. As essential to forward planning as hanging on to the superstars.

Losing Glenn Stewart would be difficult to cop but I'd be more concerned about the allegedly foreshadowed "mass exodus" threatened by some senior players. Specific names mentioned are Brett (obviously), Foran, Watmough and Matai. But to be honest, given their respective ages and value the only one of those I'd fight tooth and nail to keep is Foran. If the others all leave out of spite at Glenn being moved on then so be it, it would be a shame to lose such a high-quality group but they would have all likely retired at a similar time anyway and although Manly will suffer short-term pain in filling the voids it would result in long-term gain. These players can't play forever. Another point: if Brett truly does want to leave when Glenn is moved on, I think it's a bad reflection of his character. If staying with his brother means so much to him, he should have not signed a rich four-year deal through 2016 without ensuring his brother had been signed for the same period. He's under contract until then - Manly would be well within their rights to insist he either stay or at least does not play for another club until his contract expires. It won't happen given it would be a waste of cap space for Manly but as a supporter it is annoying to see contracted players holding a club to ransom in a situation like this.

I'd be happy to lose Wolfman but I would rather lose somebody like King than Buhrer and/or Symonds. Looks like Wolfman's days are numbered having been dropped last week and not making the 17 this week, especially given Cheyse Blair's form over the first few rounds compared to his. He's no longer first-choice or first-choice backup. I feel for the bloke but he hasn't played a good game since the semi against Souths last year and some of his defensive lapses have been cringeworthy for the past season and a half.

The annoying thing is no live coverage when on Channel 9 and for Fridays, not featuring in the first game. Up here in Qld Manly haven't had a live telecast game since round 1 which in today's day and age makes watching the game incredibly difficult given how easily one can find the results through any number of sources. And the fact that my mates often can't help themselves which makes waiting to watch the non-live game a painful couple of hours. The sooner the NRL and Channel 9 implement some sort of Viewers' Choice arrangement for the Friday night games and move the Sunday Channel 9 fixture to 4pm the better.

Hiku has re-signed??? Can't find this news anywhere but awesome if it is true. If Glenn has to leave and Brett chucks a hissy fit and wants out as a result I would be much more happy as a supporter for Brett to leave knowing Hiku is tied down. Especially given Snake's age, susceptibility to injury, cap space he takes up and the simple fact that if he doesn't want to be there, we shouldn't keep him. For what it's worth I think Brett is tremendously underrated (probably due to his injuries since the 2008 'ship) and is the best or equal-best in the game under the high ball, but Hiku is solid under the high ball, is a better metre-eater than Brett and crucially is 8 years younger. He's no Snake yet and there is plenty of development to come but I'd still have him over at least half of the first-choice No. 1s in the league.

...so just to clarify, the NRL won't register a contract under the salary cap if it is below what they deem to be a player's market value...but presumably a contract worth more than this "market value" will be registered at its actual value? Very unfair if this is the case. The NRL should in this case assign each player signed a value before every season so that everybody knows where they stand and that should be the value under the cap wherever they sign. My idea here is as ridiculous as the NRL-forced logic behind it.

Totally agree. I think one of the reasons some footy players end up suffering from depression once retired is that they stay with one club for 90% of their career and then get forced out through cap restrictions. They finish their career at a club they have no real affiliation with, with a hollow send-off. No disrespect to penrith but how must brent kite have felt after 9 seasons, being forced out of manly, to finish his career at the panthers. The manly team has a loyalty and togetherness that is almost unheard of in modern sport. Playees taking paycuts to stay together. This should be seen as an example for the NRL to allow dispensation so that this can be replicated across all clubs rather than imposing ridiculous market restraints forbidding teams from paying less than than both clubs and players agree on. Teams keeping their long time heroes will keep the fans and truly help to make this sport great.