2015 in review - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Division, contract sagas, boardroom drama… put it all together and it's enough to derail a team's season. Manly's 2015 season started about as bad as it could, and took far too long to improve.

Coming into the season, a significant turnover meant the Sea Eagles' forward pack looked nothing like it did at the end of 2014 - gone were club stalwarts Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough and the retired Jason King, while they welcomed some fresh (and not so fresh) faces in Willie Mason, Feleti Mateo & Siosaia Vave.

The season itself opened with a shock thumping at the hands of Parramatta - the recipients of one Anthony Watmough, and though the men from the Northern Beaches managed to jag a two-point win over Melbourne a week later, they would only win two more matches from the opening half of the competition to sit on three wins and nine losses after 13 rounds, propping up the bottom of the table.

A Round 14 bye seemed to help Manly no end - a 30-20 home win over the Wests Tigers kicked off a much better second half of the season, with wins over Cronulla, the Titans, Warriors, Brisbane, Souths and Canberra pushing them into contention for an unlikely finals berth with three rounds remaining.

Turning Point
While the mid-year bye provided the refreshment Manly needed to push for the finals from the bottom of the table, the true turning point was their Round 24 clash with Parramatta at Brookvale. With a win all but certain to put them in the finals frame, Manly stumbled to a four-point loss to the team who'd opened their season so poorly, before being thumped a week later by the Roosters to put paid to their 2015 campaign. While they grinded out a two-point victory over Cronulla in the final round, the mathematical chances had disappeared already and the Sea Eagles were left to rue a season of "what could have been"

The Good
That second half of 2015 was something else. After Brisbane put the Sea Eagles through the cleaners 44-10 at Suncorp Stadium, Manly were all but certainties to pick up the 2015 spoon (although Newcastle were beginning to give them a run for their money). After that Round 14 break, Manly's fortunes seemed to turn - and with the contract dramas that seemed to have plagued the side's halves mostly behind them, they played footy more reminiscent of their many years of consecutive finals' appearances. A true highlight was their Round 21 win in Gosford - strangely enough against eventual Grand Finalists Brisbane by 44-14.

The Bad
"The Backflip" took far too much focus off the first half of the season. Prior to the season kicking off the Sea Eagles were dealt a significant blow with star halfback Daly Cherry-Evans signing a 2016 and beyond contract with the Gold Coast Titans. From almost the moment he signed, rumours were rife that Manly would continue to bargain with DCE's management to lure him back to the club for 2016 before the "June 30 deadline" which was in place until this season. Cherry-Evans' form suffered as a result - until June 3 when the Sea Eagles were able to announce they had their man on a "lifetime deal" worth somewhere up to $10 million according to reports. On the other side of the scrumbase, Kieran Foran's contract woes were well publicised with the Eels' bungling on his deal to move to the blue and gold throughout the season before eventually confirming his move late in the season. Sadly for Manly - he's gone.

Best Players
One word, two men. Trbojevic. Manly's player of the year was named as prop-forward Jake Trbojevic, and it's no surprise. Jake filled the void left by Manly's departing voids almost seamlessly. His rampaging runs were a key feature of his side's charge to 9th place as the season wound down. Brother Tom got limited first grade time for the Sea Eagles but when he was named in the backline, he was electric.

Disappointing Players
An outstanding halfback probably doesn't deserve to be listed in this section but Cherry-Evans form in the first half of the season was alarming, if not understandable given the goings-on off the field. Luckily for Manly he managed to turn it around once his contract issues were sorted, but it put his side in a difficult position. Ultimately there were no outstandingly poor players for Manly, just a poor team effort for the first 13 weeks which changed dramatically mid-year.

Rookies
It's hard not to be excited by what the future holds for Tom Trbojevic. While he only got 9 games in first grade due to the various pressures of salary cap and the required experience in big contests, he still picked up 8 tries and 1209 running metres - only 300 less than fullback Brett Stewart who played all bar two matches.

2016 Chances
It's hard not to see Manly re-joining the finals race next season. Nate Myles comes in to bolster the forward pack, and a key signing in Lewis Brown set to restore some balance in the second row. Apisai Koroisau and Matt Parcell are handy pick-ups in the dummy half role and a much-improved Darcy Lussick returns to the club after a couple of years in blue and gold. With DCE sticking around long-term, the only real concern is to see how they go about replacing Kieran Foran at five-eighth.

Best lineup for 2016

1. Brett Stewart
2. Tom Trbojevic
3. Peta Hiku
4. Steve Matai
5. Jorge Taufua
6. Jamie Lyon
7. Daly Cherry-Evans
8. Jake Trbojevic
9. Apisai Koroisau
10. Nate Myles
11. Lewis Brown
12. Feleti Mateo
13. Jamie Buhrer

14. Darcy Lussick
15. Brenton Lawrence
16. Tom Symonds
17. Matt Parcell

Ins: Nate Myles (Titans), Lewis Brown, Apisai Koroisau (Panthers), Darcy Lussick, Fabian Goodall (Eels), Tim Moltzen (Wests Tigers), Matt Parcell (Broncos), Nathan Green (Dragons), John Walker (union), Tom Wright (schoolboy union)

Outs: Kieran Foran, James Hasson (Parramatta Eels), Justin Horo (ESL - Catalans), Jack Littlejohn, Michael Chee-Kam (Wests Tigers), Ligi Sao (Warriors), Dunamis Lui (Dragons), Clinton Gutherson (released), Cheyse Blair (Storm), Jesse Sene Lefao (Sharks), Will Pearsall (Knights)