Why Manly have done Josh Schuster a huge favour by cutting him loose from $2.4m deal
The out-of-favour Sea Eagles player needs to find his love for NRL again without the weight of expectation.
It was the day after Manly's Magic Round clash with Brisbane last year and a fan rang to ask if I wanted an "exclusive". I replied: "Yep, always up for a good yarn. What's happening?"
He proceeded to tell me Josh Schuster was sitting in Brookvale McDonald's, catching up with teammate Haumole Olakau'atu. It was the same week the gifted playmaker had been cut adrift from the NRL squad due to concerns over his fitness.
So is he ripping into three Big Macs with fries, a side of nuggets all washed down with a chocolate thickshake, I enquired. No, not eating, just hanging about and gas-bagging, came the reply.
It was a non-story but just gives you a small indication of the pressure and expectation placed on Schuster. And an insight into his naivety and innocence.
He couldn’t escape the "next big thing" tag and the $2.4m salary attached to every story written about him. He didn’t ask for the praise or the money – neither sat that easily with him – but it was there 24/7.
Schuster's a kid who plays footy because he's good at it. Whether he loves it – at the professional level at least – is another question. In the end, Manly decided he didn't want it enough.
Anthony Seibold couldn't cop Josh Schuster at Manly any more
Coach Anthony Seibold is re-engineering the DNA at Brookvale. It's all about effort and dedication to the cause. The Manly Way, he calls it. He will cop losses if his side has a dig but he won’t compromise on commitment – not only on game day but the entire week.
He risked a player revolt if Schuster was seen anywhere near the first grade side. It would mean leaving someone like Corey Waddell out of the side, a player on a quarter of what Schuster earns but putting in a full shift at every training session and every minute of every game. You can't demand commitment and effort and brush a Corey Waddell for a Josh Schuster.
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Seibold is a great man manager and truly believed he could turn Schuster around. And, for a period, it was working. Schuster was putting in the necessary work to put himself in line for selection until a couple of injury setbacks stymied that progress.
Have Manly actually done Josh Schuster a favour?
The club felt old habits then crept back in and certain non-negotiables weren't being met. It all came to head this week with news the Sea Eagles were cutting Schuster loose.
It might not seem like it right now, but Manly has done him a huge favour. "It's almost like a relief for him…he needs to go back to playing footy again at a lower amount (of money)," one insider told Yahoo Sport Australia. "He needs to rebuild his love and desire for the game and that's not going to happen at Manly." It remains to be seen if it happens anywhere.