- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s high time Manly’s chairman Scott Penn showed Geoff Toovey the same loyalty Toovey has shown his career-long club as player and coach, especially after Manly’s 30-20 win over the Tigers at Brookvale last night to climb off the bottom of the NRL table.
Penn’s track record is pathetic.
He was a major player in Des Hasler leaving Manly for the Bulldogs immediately after winning the 2011 premiership, and had a large role in Glenn Stewart going to South Sydney and Anthony Watmough signing with Parramatta.
Add the Daly Cherry-Evans saga – which did Manly, Penn, Cherry-Evans, the Titans, and the NRL no good – and class pivot Kieran Foran signing with the Eels for next season, and Penn’s been busy doing, and achieving, nothing.
Let’s turn the clock back two months to when Penn said, “I don’t want to put any undue pressure on anyone, but we are a results driven business.”
Really? Instead of making thinly veiled threats against Toovey, how about being a man where the buck stops at his desk?
Not on your life, there’s more.
“If we don’t have a good outcome this year, then we will be having serious discussions.”
Translated: Geoff Toovey will get the sack.
Already the rumour mill is running hot that Penrith assistant coach Trent Barrett will take over next season, if not sooner. Barrett has no head coaching experience, and for Penn to be even thinking of appointing an outsider over one of the most loyal club men in history is as disloyal as can be.
In Toovey’s debut year, 2012, Manly finished fourth with a 16 win, 8 loss record for the regulation season. Manly was beaten 40-12 in the preliminary final by the Storm.
In 2013, Manly again finished fourth with a 15-8-1 record, only to lose the grand final 26-18 to the Roosters.
Last year Manly finished second with a 16-8 season, losing a semi to the Hasler-coached Dogs 18-17.
By any standards, it’s a mighty fine record under Toovey’s guidance.
But Penn’s shortcomings haven’t finished there, as he obviously hasn’t taken into account Manly has suffered far more than any other club this season with a litany of injuries.
On the other side of the coin, the Manly faithful still believe Toovey will coach the club into the play-offs, and that last night was the start of the renaissance.
So it would fit the frame if the chairman came out and said something positive in support of Geoff Toovey. The faithful would also appreciate the gesture, or they can be forgiven for thinking Penn has already signed Barrett, and is keeping it under raps.
Then the muck will truly hit the fan.