Angry texts expose rift as Manly stars meet

Manly wore the jersey featuring rainbow stripes and trim in Thursday’s loss to the Sydney Roosters but seven stars decided not to play due to their religious and cultural views.Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >Josh Aloiai, Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Schuster, Haumole Olakau’atu, Tolu Koula and Toafofoa Sipley all stood down from the 20-10 loss but are expected to return against the Parramatta Eels on Friday night.Manly admitted wrongdoing in not consulting the players about the jersey before the match, but promised to wear the rainbow colours again in the future.Josh Aloiai met with Jake Trbojevic, Lachlan Croker and a fourth player for breakfast on Sunday in hopes of healing some of the wounds of the week, but The Daily Telegraph reports the damage has already been done.According to the publication, some Manly players fired off angry text messages after the boycotting stars put their season in danger by skipping the Roosters match.The seven players who boycotted the match reportedly met with the rest of their teammates at the club’s Centre of Excellence on the weekend to try and understand where each side was coming from.While it was claimed the group was now “united”, The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield told Sky Racing’s Big Sports Breakfast it was an “uneasy truce”. Manly sit 10th on the ladder and although they are just two points out of finals contention, the Roosters, Raiders and Dragons are all in an arm-wrestle for the final place in the top eight.The Sea Eagles face the Eels this week, before matches against the last-placed Titans, third-placed Sharks, Raiders and the red-hot Bulldogs.“The club brought in a professional mediator to get the group of players together to try and get a sympathetic understanding from both sides,” Rothfield told the Big Sports Breakfast.“I don’t think they’ll ever agree that the players did the right thing by withdrawing from the match last week. But what they want is for the players who did play to get a better understanding of why they did it and that’s why everything got put on the table and there were discussions.“I was told late last week the rift among the players and the team was not reversible, it was quite deep. And the boys who did play, and played quite bravely against the Roosters, could not comprehend why their teammates took such drastic action.“I think after they got together yesterday, there is a better understanding. I still think there’s a very, very long way to go before it is completely sorted out to a satisfactory position where they’re prepared to have full team camaraderie and strength and spirit. “So Manly are at, I think you could call it, an unease truce between the players.”Facing a tough run home, Rothfield said of the Sea Eagles: “I’m not sure they can still make the finals.”Rothfield added new CEO Manly Tony Mestrov, who starts today, walks into “a really difficult position”.Officials had been warned away from the meeting on Sunday and club owner Scott Penn said the players needed to share their views to try and heal the divide.“I’m certainly aware the playing group is getting together,” Penn told The Sports Breakfast Weekend radio show.“It’s really important everyone gets together and just talks it through. There needs to be a ‘clear-the-air’ session, which is perfectly normal in these circumstances.“There’s not a deep divide which has been reported but I think there is some frustration in terms of the way all this played out.“I met with six of the seven — Josh (Aloiai) was injured and wasn’t training but I spoke to him a little bit later. They are very determined and they were put in a difficult position but there are absolutely no hard feelings at all. As I discussed with them at the time, their focus now is on Parramatta.“The seven were very clear in their view and religious beliefs and we totally respected that. They have copped it from certain circles and that is unfortunate because we didn’t ever want to put them in that position.“We will see a very cohesive team for the next five weeks. It was an emotional week and the circumstances put everyone in a difficult position.”Penn also spoke about Des Hasler’s position after rumours the coach could be on the outer after the drama.“Des has a contract for as long as he wants, really,” Penn said. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au