Latest news with #Mestrov
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trbojevic shift, players dropped: Manly coach has two games to prove he can turn club around
'Seibs understands this as well as I do, it's all about winning games. Seibs is safe at this point.' Sources told this masthead that Lachlan Croker and Jason Saab could spend time in NSW Cup this week despite Manly having the bye. The major talking point out of Seibold's meetings is the expected shift of Tom Trbojevic from fullback to centre to accommodate the return of Lehi Hopoate, who missed the loss against the Gold Coast Titans after picking up a concussion the previous week. 'As a club we know the last two losses have been unacceptable,' Mestrov said. 'As a club we're going to turn this around. We have a bye this week and two games at home. There's no better way to get the season back on track against the Tigers and Souths. We've just got to do better. It's as simple as that. We're all in this together as a club.' Mestrov admitted he had met with Seibold but insisted it was nothing out of the ordinary. Mestrov's contract with Manly was recently extended through to the end of 2027 but is believed to include a six-month pay-out. 'We chat after every game,' Mestrov said. 'There's no crisis meeting or anything like that. We just spoke about how we can turn it around. I felt like I could give advice and he could give me advice. We've got a good relationship. As a club we've got to turn it around. It was constructive conversation about how we can turn our season around.' Manly last month begun conversations with the management of Jake and Tom Trbojevic about extending their respective careers on the Northern Beaches before they hit the open market on November 1. The brothers are contracted until the end of 2026, but Sea Eagles chief executive Tony Mestrov has personally opened talks with their manager to begin working on a deal to keep both as one-club players. Young gun Hopoate, who recently extended his Manly deal until the end of 2027, is seen as the long-term successor to Tom at fullback having impressed in Tom's absence due to injury. A move to five-eighth for Tom was previously touted, but the arrival of Jamal Fogarty next season has placed a question mark over such a shift given the Sea Eagles also have Luke Brooks on their books. The decision to move Trbojevic to centre will only further add to Manly's conundrum on what he is worth and how long to extend him for. Loading Tom is in no rush to decide his future, nor does he want Manly to feel obliged to make him an offer as a mark of respect for what he has done for the club. Trbojevic does not want to play against Manly and has told those close to him he would be open to a move to the Super League in 2027 if it was in the Sea Eagles' best interest for him to leave the club.
The Age
a day ago
- Sport
- The Age
Trbojevic shift, players dropped: Manly coach has two games to prove he can turn club around
'Seibs understands this as well as I do, it's all about winning games. Seibs is safe at this point.' Sources told this masthead that Lachlan Croker and Jason Saab could spend time in NSW Cup this week despite Manly having the bye. The major talking point out of Seibold's meetings is the expected shift of Tom Trbojevic from fullback to centre to accommodate the return of Lehi Hopoate, who missed the loss against the Gold Coast Titans after picking up a concussion the previous week. 'As a club we know the last two losses have been unacceptable,' Mestrov said. 'As a club we're going to turn this around. We have a bye this week and two games at home. There's no better way to get the season back on track against the Tigers and Souths. We've just got to do better. It's as simple as that. We're all in this together as a club.' Mestrov admitted he had met with Seibold but insisted it was nothing out of the ordinary. Mestrov's contract with Manly was recently extended through to the end of 2027 but is believed to include a six-month pay-out. 'We chat after every game,' Mestrov said. 'There's no crisis meeting or anything like that. We just spoke about how we can turn it around. I felt like I could give advice and he could give me advice. We've got a good relationship. As a club we've got to turn it around. It was constructive conversation about how we can turn our season around.' Manly last month begun conversations with the management of Jake and Tom Trbojevic about extending their respective careers on the Northern Beaches before they hit the open market on November 1. The brothers are contracted until the end of 2026, but Sea Eagles chief executive Tony Mestrov has personally opened talks with their manager to begin working on a deal to keep both as one-club players. Young gun Hopoate, who recently extended his Manly deal until the end of 2027, is seen as the long-term successor to Tom at fullback having impressed in Tom's absence due to injury. A move to five-eighth for Tom was previously touted, but the arrival of Jamal Fogarty next season has placed a question mark over such a shift given the Sea Eagles also have Luke Brooks on their books. The decision to move Trbojevic to centre will only further add to Manly's conundrum on what he is worth and how long to extend him for. Loading Tom is in no rush to decide his future, nor does he want Manly to feel obliged to make him an offer as a mark of respect for what he has done for the club. Trbojevic does not want to play against Manly and has told those close to him he would be open to a move to the Super League in 2027 if it was in the Sea Eagles' best interest for him to leave the club.
Mercury
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Mercury
Fans doing Run It Straight after Manly game, club condemn behaviour
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News. The Manly Sea Eagles have condemned fan behaviour that was posted to social media on Monday. The footage, posted to the creaturesofmanly Instagram account, shows fans on the hill at 4 Pines park partaking in the controversial 'Run It Straight' challenge. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. The activity sees opponents charging at each other with the objective to either successfully tackle the opponent or run them over in a hard-hitting collision. On Saturday night after the Sea Eagles had defeated the Brisbane Broncos, fans decided to turn the steep hill into their arena. Fans slowly trotted down the hill as others waited at the bottom to tackle them with countless people watching on and cheering. One man slammed down his drink before taking off down the hill where he was flattened by another individual. Another was hit just as hard while a third carried so much speed he bowled into the crowd at the bottom who all had their phones recording the chaos. The Sea Eagles have vowed to step up security with club CEO Tony Mestrov thankfully nobody was seriously injured. 'It's crazy that people will do this type of thing when they know how dangerous and potentially life-threatening it is,' Mestrov said to The Sydney Morning Herald. 'We will ensure our security is more vigilant in patrolling this outside zone after full-time, at all future home games. 'Any spectators who breach our rules by engaging in this type of behaviour will be banned. Full stop. As a club, we will continue to make the match day experience at 4 Pines Park one that is safe and enjoyable for all.' The footage of Manly fans doing the controversial activity comes after teenager Ryan Satterthwaite died last week while playing the game with friends in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital by friends but passed away a day later. Leading sports neuroscientist Dr Alan Pearce told that it was sadly 'only a matter of time' until the viral sport took a life and says if it continues this won't be the last time it does. 'This was a matter of time really as sad as that is to say,' Dr Pearce told 'The concern is that this can happen at any level. Even in the sanctioned 'run it' events someone will probably die in that at some point as well. 'It can't be done safely and when there's kids and teens that see it they like to copy what they see online, and this is something that absolutely not should be copied. 'It is the biggest please do not try this at home disclaimer if I've ever seen one'. 'RUNIT' has become an online viral sensation over the past few months, and has attracted tens of millions of views on various social media platforms. Videos of the heavy collisions started doing the rounds on social media in January, with 'Run it Straight Official' and 'RUNIT Championship League' turning the trend into a business. As the sport took off spoke to Dr Pearce who was baffled at why people would be willing to take the risks. 'I just cannot understand how they could take the most violent aspect of sport (contact) and just turn it into a spectacle where the objective is just to try and knock out or hurt your opponent,' Dr Pearce told earlier this year. 'In a lot of these other sports (such as NRL, AFL and rugby union) you're trying to avoid direct contact whereas this is purely running at each other, it's insanity.' Originally published as Manly Sea Eagles vow to crack down after horror fan footage
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Daly Cherry-Evans is leaving Manly. His exit will haunt the NRL club for a long time
Daly Cherry-Evans contract negotiations do not come up often but when they do, drama usually ensues. A decade ago it was the talented young halfback who was arguably the villain when he backflipped on a four-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans to remain at Manly on a 10-year deal. This time around it is the club, not player, that has been rightly cast as the bad guy. On Monday evening, the Sea Eagles skipper announced that he would not play with Manly in 2026 and beyond. He did not know whether he would retire, sign with another Sydney club or return to Queensland and potentially reunite with his junior club the Dolphins. He was definitive in just one thing: he would not play for Manly, a club for whom he has played a record 333 games and counting. He has won a premiership and a Clive Churchill medal in the maroon and white while he has played 25 Origins and eight Tests from the club. Such is his legend at Brookvale, Cherry-Evans sits comfortably alongside the likes of Bob Fulton, Graham Eadie, Cliff Lyons, Steve Menzies, Roy Bull and John O'Neill as the club's greatest and most decorated players. There is an old maxim in roster management that it is easier to retain than recruit. When you have one of the best halfbacks in the game – and one of the best handful of No 7s of the NRL era – you love the one you're with. Both Cherry-Evans and Manly have said there is no animosity between them and CEO Tony Mestrov has been at pains to claim the club did not lowball the player when salaries were discussed in the possibility he wanted to play on. But Mestrov also stated a formal extension was not offered, despite Cherry-Evans' contract being well known. Mestrov and Manly have made a hash of the situation and it is going to cost them one of the best No 7s around. Even the club itself seems to know it, given their panicked call on Monday night to Fox Sports show NRL 360 to publicly announce that they would, after all, offer Cherry-Evans a two-year deal. It was unprecedented, and it was messy. There have been a lot of comparisons between how Manly have handled this situation and South Sydney's handling of Adam Reynolds. The comparisons are foolish and highly unfair on the Rabbitohs, while being overly kind to Manly's handling of their affairs. Souths were steadfast on the length of the deal they would offer Reynolds, believing his body would not hold up. Cherry-Evans, by contrast, has been one of the most durable players in the game, still healthy and fit with no concerns of a body breakdown. Manly have not been as steadfast in their approach. Discussions had centred on a one-year extension but the club showed no signs of going beyond that until their public offer of a near-$14m deal during the NRL 360 live broadcast. Typically when a club great walks out on a team, it is for money and the player's legacy is tarnished. That is not the case with Cherry-Evans. If anything, he will enhance his legacy. He can walk into Canterbury or the Sydney Roosters and instantly make them premiership contenders. He can make a sentimental return to the Dolphins, taking his junior club to their inaugural finals campaign. He can mend some bridges while simultaneously reuniting with his old coach Des Hasler in a return to the Titans. He can walk off into the sunset and retire at the end of the season. Wherever he lands – and he could play on for another three or four years given his fitness – his legacy will not be harmed. Good halfbacks are in short supply and great halfbacks are rarer than golden tickets in Willy Wonka chocolate bars. Great halfbacks are needed to win premierships. Daly Cherry-Evans is a great halfback and Manly's premiership window is just opening. The Sea Eagles' inability to keep a club great still playing at an elite level in the hardest position to playcould haunt them for a long, long time.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Won't make a difference': Manly fans dealt grim reality check about DCE's future
😃 The good: Wests Tigers off to best start since 2020 😔 The bad: Manly in serious danger of losing Daly Cherry-Evans 😡 The ugly: Opinion divided on Brandon Smith's early release You'd have to have a heart of stone if you're not enjoying the Wests Tigers' start to the season. After three-straight wooden spoons, Benji Marshall's men are occupying rarefied air after winning two games in a row to sit fourth on the table. It's their best start to a season since 2020. Ok, so the two wins have been against teams sitting last and third last – Parramatta and the Dolphins. But it's the way the Tigers have gone about their business that is so impressive and exciting for fans dreaming of a return to finals football after 14 lean years. Matty Johns reckons the moments they let go of the set-up plays, that's when they're at their best and most dangerous. He said: "Watching them in that first week – probably that first game and a half – everything was setting up for something. "When they just roll forward with Terrell (May) and let it go, they look really good. When they play north-south and keep it simple, they look fantastic." Yes, it's only late March and the Tigers haven't run into any of the competition's big guns yet. But let's enjoy the ride for the moment. In a short time as CEO, Manly's Tony Mestrov has built a reputation as a fair but tough negotiator. He eyeballed Des Hasler and oversaw his departure from the club, eased Josh Schuster out of the joint and was pivotal in Scott and Kristie Fulton moving on. Mestrov also stood firm when there was pressure on him last year to rush a contract extension for coach Anthony Seibold. He put talks on ice while the 2024 campaign played out. Seibs eventually got his extra couple of years but was made to work for it. As a local junior who played front-row for the Sea Eagles, Mestrov is club first and anything but a pushover. Which brings us to the delicate topic of Daly Cherry-Evans. There has been plenty of discussion over whether the veteran halfback will kick on next year and perhaps even into 2027. Or he may retire at season's end. No one really knows at this stage. As is his way, DCE is keeping his cards close to his chest. But Mestrov possesses an equally good poker face. While totally respectful of Cherry-Evans' contribution to the club, Mestrov won't let emotion dictate the biggest call Manly's had to make since signing the No.7 to an eight-year deal in 2015. The likes of Andrew Johns can rant and rave all they like over the club's supposed "disrespectful" negotiation tactics towards a possible DCE extension. It won't make any difference. Mestrov is not looking for a fight but won't back away from a "take it or leave it" ultimatum if it comes down to it. No one in the rugby league world can truly read what's going on inside Brandon Smith's brain at the best of times. James Graham – the former NRL enforcer turned media personality – is probably the guy best equipped to run analysis on the Cheese. The pair has bonded over their very successful podcast – the Bye Round – and talk about life as much as footy when the mic is turned off. Smith has signed with the Rabbitohs for seasons 2026/27 but there is speculation a release from the Roosters could come a lot sooner, allowing the Kiwi forward to move digs from Moore Park to Heffron Park before the June 30 transfer deadline. That would be around about the time he is due to return from a serious knee injury. Graham insists he hasn't been in Smith's ear about an early move, but doubts it will happen. "Brandon's a guy that just wants to be loved," Jamma told Triple M. "If the Roosters said to go, he'd go, but I just can't see that deal happening. Why would the Roosters let him go to strengthen Souths' cause?" Gorden Tallis – who knows a thing or two about wanting out of a club – is having an each-way bet. "I think it (rests) on the next, say, six weeks," he predicted. "If the Roosters' wheels fall off, you would think they go 'why are we keeping this guy? Let's send him away. "Or is it, (given) the Book of Feuds between the clubs, the Roosters say no way in the world we are giving Souths a player early. There's no way there's a deal that gives them a chance to finish higher than us on the ladder." We think the latter, Gordie, although don't completely rule out a mid-season switch should there be a hefty financial incentive for the Chooks. Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.
