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Since Manly joined the rugby league competition in 1947, the club has had two outstanding members in Ken Arthurson and Bobby Fulton.
Arthurson covered all bases as player, coach, and one of the code’s most inspirational administrators.
Fulton as a player and coach was hugely successful and, in more recent times, was the club’s supremo in making the big decisions.
In the 19 grand finals the seaside club has contested, only one has been coached by an ‘outsider’ – Balmain’s Pat Devery in the 1957 loss to St George during the early stages of the Dragons’ record 11 successive premierships.
The other 18 deciders were all coached by Manly club stalwarts as former players, with the exception of the first in 1951 with Wally O’Connell as player-coach.
Ron Willey, Manly’s former champion goal-kicking fullback from 1956 to 1962, kick-started the club’s eight premierships in 1972 and 1973 with victories over Eastern Suburbs 19-14, and Cronulla 10-7.
Frank Stanton, Manly’s former halfback-centre, helped make the club the most successful in the 70s, with premierships in 1976 with a 13-10 win over Parramatta, and the 16-0 grand final win over Cronulla in 1978.
Fulton was the next premiership coach in 1987 with an 18-8 win over the Raiders in the last SCG decider and in 1996, Manly beat St George 20-8.
He stamped himself the club’s most successful coach with three losing grand finals in 1983, 1995, and 1997.
Des Hasler, another long-serving Manly halfback, lost his first grand final in 2007 to the Storm 34-8, but thumped the Storm 40-0 the next year, and handsomely accounted for the Warriors 24-0 in 2011.
Halfback Geoff Toovey became the next coach, yet was surprisingly sacked despite reaching the 2013 decider.
Trent Barrett surfaced on Bobby Fulton’s invitation despite the fact it was his first head-coach appointment, and he was a ‘foreigner’ from the other side of the big creek with Illawarra, the Dragons, and the Sharks.
As Manly history and tradition dictates, Barrett was doomed from the start.
Manly has a vastly different culture to any other NRL club, and in many ways that’s the reason they are so unpopular.
Ask any fan who they support, and they name their favourite club, adding “any team that plays Manly”.
And the Manly faithful are normally rock solid, but two recent games have rocked them to the core.
Penrith rattled up 22 points in the last six minutes to topple Manly 28-24 and, last night, with only 6382 of the faithful on duty, they led the Titans 22-6 in a hurry, but were smashed 42-34.
So for the first time since 1947, Manly faces the indignity of the wooden spoon.
Sure, Manly supremo Scott Penn is no Ken Arthurson, not by a long shot.
While Penn is a big problem, he isn’t the only problem, Barrett has created plenty on his own.
And with no Bobby Fulton on deck, Barrett’s coaching job at Lottoland is untenable.
That leaves Penn with only one possible replacement, he must be Manly orientated, or losses will continue, and the fans will stay away in droves.
It’s as simple as that.
And renaming the home ground to Brookvale again would be a step in the right direction too.