Barrett to stay for Manly’s final round
Thaiday’s belief high for grand finale push
TRENT Barrett will remain with Manly until at least the end of the regular season after chairman Scott Penn confirmed he’d still coach the team for the final-round clash with Brisbane.
Barrett trained the NRL team yesterday but appears a dead man walking at the Sea Eagles after his public falling out with the management and owners over club resources.
There had been suggestions the third-year coach could have been sacked as soon as the start of this week and replaced by John Cartwright, as discussions remain ongoing about his future.
But when asked about Barrett’s fate and whether he would still be coach come Sunday’s game, Penn was adamant in his response.
“Yes of course, that was never in question,” he said.
Barrett still has two years left to run in his contract, but it’s become increasingly clear that the situation at the Sea Eagles is untenable. It’s believed he approached the club earlier this season regarding the resources promised to him in a contract extension signed last year and also gave his 12 months’ notice in July.
Barrett finally went public over the weekend on his complaints, which largely centred around the facilities for players at the club’s base of Narrabeen and a lack of football department staff.
The Sea Eagles are currently operating without a recruitment manager, pathways coach and assistant accountant to help oversee salary cap management.
But Penn insists the club have fulfilled all obligations to Barrett, after having provided room in the organisation’s budget for the positions the coach wanted filled.
Chief executive Lyall Gorman told members earlier this month filling those positions were all in the pipeline, while Manly have unsuccessfully made offers for the role of recruitment manager.
Penn is also adamant the facilities at Narrabeen are workable, pointing to previous success there and a recent $500,000 upgrade of the gym.
In all likelihood, all that stands between Barrett and the end of his tenure at Manly is the terms of his departure and whether the club will be forced to make a payout, after the coach admitted this weekend he wouldn’t change his decision to leave.
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The 33-year-old forward remains Brisbane’s most popular player and will make his 303rd appearance for the club against the Sea Eagles.
Thaiday and skipper Darius Boyd are the only remaining players from Brisbane’s last NRL premiership victory in 2006 and Thaiday said he would do all he could to lead the Broncos to another triumph in the final weeks of his career.
“I can only worry about myself and bring my best game for the boys,” Thaiday said.
“Hopefully by leading by example they will put their hand up as well and play some good footy. The big test is going to be playing a Manly side that has nothing to lose.
“That has been our downfall this year. It’s going to be an emotional game. A lot of family and friends will be there.”
Thaiday made his NRL debut for the Broncos as an 18year-old in 2003.
He recently joined Darren Lockyer (355 games) and Corey Parker (347 games) as the only Broncos to rack up 300 games for the club and has a rare opportunity to retire with a premiership finale.
Former captain Justin Hodges fell agonisingly short of a premiership farewell in 2015 when the Broncos lost to North Queensland.
Thaiday said there was no reason Brisbane could not become the first team since the NRL’s creation in 1998 to win the premiership from outside the top four.
“Why not? I still think it’s a very open competition,” he said.
“There hasn’t been one team this year that has dominated for a long period of time and put their hand up and said ‘we’re the premiership favourites’.”