Do the Sea Eagles need a coach with Manly DNA?

Jimmy Smith and Greg Alexander have named their picks for who should be Manly’s new coach.

Having parted ways with Anthony Seibold after just three rounds, there is plenty of speculation surrounding who’ll take the reins in 2027.

Whilst they have named Kieran Foran as the interim coach, the three leading candidates for the position are Dragons’ assistant Michael Ennis, Broncos’ assistant and Sea Eagles premiership player Matt Ballin and Leeds and former Eels coach Brad Arthur.

Out of those three, Alexander believes that Ennis should be the man in charge.

“I’d be going for Michael Ennis,” Alexander said on SEN’s Kick Off.

“I think Mick will make a great coach. I’m sure he’ll make a great coach.”

Alexander also believes that Manly does not need to hire a former Sea-Eagles player turned coach, despite all of their eight premierships being won by former players.  

“What they’ve got is that former Manly players (in) Ron Willey, Bob Fulton, Frank Stanton and Des Hasler (winning multiple premierships),” Alexander explained.

“Now, Tooves (Geoff Toovey) didn’t win a premiership, but he got them to a Grand Final in 2013.

“They’re all Manly players that have gone on to coach and win premierships.

“So, the history is there. However, I don’t think you need to have played for Manly to be successful at the club as a coach.”

But for Smith, he feels the experience of Arthur as a head coach and at Manly as an assistant coach would be a handy addition.

“I’m not Brad Arthur’s biggest fan, but he’s got experience,” Smith added.

“He’s been at Manly beforehand.

“In saying that, if I knew Michael Ennis or Matt Ballin as closely as they would, I’d be happy to go with them.

“Both strike me as deeply impressive, highly organised and very, very new age when it comes to the way they would prepare football sides.”

Foran’s tenure as the Sea Eagles’ interim coach begins this Thursday when they play the Dolphins in Redcliffe.

Kick-off is set for 8pm AEDT with SEN League having live coverage of the match from 7pm with the Bunnings Build-Up.