Video of angry Manly star fuels claims clashes between teammates are tearing club apart

Manly’s wounds have been exposed for all to see after a very public display of frustration from star Martin Taupau amid claims the Trbojevic brothers could walk out on the NRL club.

The club lost seven consecutive games to tumble out of finals contention after Josh Aloiai, Toafofoa Sipley, Tolutau Koula, Christian Tuipulotu, Haumole Olakau’atu, Jason Saab and Josh Schuster stood down from their match against the Sydney Roosters over the Pride jersey saga. 

The curtain finally fell on the club’s horror season when they were run down by the Bulldogs for another loss after leading 16-0 early on Friday night.

The signs that frustration and internal rifts and turmoil were plain to see in that match and and the side’s round 23 loss to the Cronulla Sharks. 

Departing prop Martin Taupau was routinely cut out and used as a decoy runner in the latter game, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

While the ‘Manly 7’ cited religious and cultural reasons for refusing to play in the rainbow Pride jersey, proud Samoan man Taupau did play in that loss to the Roosters.

Taupau is off contract and was denied a mid-season move to Parramatta by the Sea Eagles with his future under a cloud. 

His was shared on social media by his daughter Ella before it was deleted as the pressure piles on the club.

‘Manly lost cos my uso [brother] Marty didn’t touch the ball for 20 fkn minutes’ an anonymous TikTok account posted with footage of the Manly star being repeatedly cut out of play.

‘That’s how you know there’s a rift amongst the group,’ a follower replied.

‘Manly supporter here. They’ve been doing that for weeks,’ said another.

Taupau’s frustrations come after crisis meetings between teammates earlier in the season that saw Jake Trbojevic desperately trying to pull the playing group together to save their campaign.

Now the likeable prop and his superstar brother Tom are reportedly so frustrated over the infighting they could potentially walk away from their beloved Sea Eagles.

Martin Taupau [right] with his wife Michelle and children Ella, Leilani and Isaiah Taupau

The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio told SEN 1170 Breakfast that the siblings were ‘extremely frustrated’ with the current situation at the club.

‘That [the Trbojevic brothers leaving] would devastate the club,’ Riccio said.

‘They are extremely frustrated, those two boys, every fan knows what kind of character they are, they are passion players and they are hurting right now.

‘Those two boys are feeling the pain more than anyone else, they are hating this scenario.

‘Stranger things have happened, we know that, it is rugby league, but at this point in time I’d be confident that they’ll stay the course.

‘But again, this depends where the story of the club goes.’

Jake Trbojevic with brothers Ben and Tom after the game in the round nine NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Wests Tigers at 4 Pines Park

Coach Des Hasler could be a scapegoat for the entire scenario despite not being the architect of the Pride jersey and its subsequent fallout.

He has 12 months remaining on his contract but could be sacked or even quit the club with crisis talks to be held this week.

Publicly, the club remains steadfast that the group remains united. But privately, Sea Eagles chair Scott Penn knows the fractures are very real.

‘There has been a bit of friction and it all came to a head with the inclusive jersey,’ Penn told News Corp.

‘That wasn’t the sole reason. I think the reality is that there has been a lot of soul searching since but then we have lost a lot of other players.

Sea Eagles coach, Des Hasler speaks to the media following the round 25 NRL match between the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Manly Sea Eagles

‘We had a number of injuries and just haven’t played well the last seven or eight weeks. Yes, we certainly have had a disappointing end of the season and yes, we need to make some changes.

‘But there doesn’t need to be wholesale changes. The board has been incredibly stable for the last five or six years. There are no issues at all.

‘There is no issue at management level because Tony is in and we have a new CFO and a new chief commercial person about to come on board. Management is incredibly stable.

‘The centre of excellence is great, we are all in the one place, we have a lot of kids coming through the system, we have seven or eight players who debuted this year.

‘At least we are blooding the young players. We have to make sure we have the systems in place to support them.’