- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Manly Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett will walk away from the struggling club at the end of 2018, according to reports on Tuesday evening.
According to NRL 360 host Paul Kent, Barrett will finish up at season’s end, intensifying the coaching merry-go-round which started seven days ago.
“He will quit at the end of the season, so there’s three games left for Trent Barrett at Manly,” Kent said.
“There was a story over the weekend that he’d sent a letter to the Manly Sea Eagles saying that they don’t come into play with a couple of promises that they’d made when he extended his deal last year that he’d look at resigning – in fact, it was a resignation and it’s going to be dealt with over the off-season.”
AAP said that a formal announcement regarding Barrett’s future will take place on Wednesday.
It’s been reported in recent weeks Barrett was less than impressed with the level of resources on the Northern Beaches and Kent said the coach issued the club a 12-month notice in July.
However, they will release him from the final year of his deal and source a new coach to take over ahead of the 2019 season.
This comes despite the Sea Eagles restoring some momentum last weekend, with an 18-6 victory over the Bulldogs.
Barrett had originally extended his contract with the club in late 2017. Had he seen it out, he would have remained at Manly until the end of the 2020 season.
It follows Ivan Cleary’s decision to stay with the Tigers after the Panthers sacked Anthony Griffin just last week, despite Penrith sitting inside the top eight – and now top four – on the run to the NRL finals, which start in early September.
Panthers boss Phil Gould has repeatedly denied Barrett is heading west – where the former St George Illawarra five-eighth started his career as an assistant – but it would appear there is a real chance of that happening now.
Speculation is also still rampant about the destination of Broncos coach Wayne Bennett next year, and who would be his replacement should he leave Brisbane.
Manly were attempting to keep the decision of their coach under wraps until the end of the season, but appear to have failed in this endeavour.
The Sea Eagles currently sit 12th with just three rounds to go and face the Gold Coast Titans this Friday. Manly are still a half chance of claiming the wooden spoon at the end of the season should their form continue to be poor and other results work against them.