{"id":577037,"date":"2026-03-31T20:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577037\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T20:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:52:12","slug":"nrl-news-2026-the-mole-exclusive-manly-sea-eagles-owner-scott-penn-told-to-step-down-max-delmege-comments-png-chiefs-chasing-connor-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577037\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026 | The Mole exclusive; Manly Sea Eagles owner Scott Penn told to step down; Max Delmege comments; PNG Chiefs chasing Connor Watson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Manly<\/a> supremo Max Delmege has called for the current owners, the Penn family<\/a>, to step down to allow the Sea Eagles to start afresh and end the internal squabbles that have contributed to the club’s current plight.<\/p>\n

Manly has gone through five coaches and eight chief executives in recent seasons, culminating in the sacking of Anthony Seibold<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

Delmege saved the club when it was on the brink of insolvency in 2002 and was in charge when Manly won the 2008 grand final by a record 40-0 against Melbourne.<\/p>\n

OPINION: Another sacking and big roster calls Manly must make next<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Beloved Aussie brand makes Steve Smith $1.4m richer in one day<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gawn rejects claim Dees are filthy at Oliver over 250th snub<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Manly owner Scott Penn speaks to Daly Cherry-Evans in 2024.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

But that triumph appears lightyears away, with Manly yet to win a game this season and in search of a new head coach for 2027.<\/p>\n

“I always put the fans first – I would often stand with them on the hill – and the fans are hurting,” Delmege told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

“I speak to a lot of people in the area and see all the comments on social media – everyone is disillusioned with the way the club is going.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You need peace and harmony and everyone working together – then you will win games.<\/p>\n

“Manly have lost that.<\/p>\n

“You can’t chop and change coaches and CEOs on a whim. You’ve got to stick by them. I think sacking Seibold after just three games of a new season was a knee jerk reaction from the owners to take the heat off themselves.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scott Penn and Max Delmege in 2009.\u00a0SMH Sport<\/p>\n

“Some people have egos that are too big – the club becomes a political football for them. The need to remember it’s the people’s game.<\/p>\n

“I think if they care about Manly, they should step aside and stop looking at the club as something they can get kudos or acclaim from.<\/p>\n

“The fans want change at the top – they aren’t stupid – they realise the club is not being well run.”<\/p>\n

MANLY’S STORM RAID WON’T BE SUCCESSFUL<\/p>\n

Still on Manly and the club’s bid to snare highly-respected Storm general manager Frank Ponissi is doomed to fail.<\/p>\n

Ponissi and Craig Bellamy have built the Storm into an Australian sporting powerhouse over the past two decades and he would have been a good catch for Manly.<\/p>\n

\"Melbourne<\/p>\n

Melbourne Storm general manager of football, Frank Ponissi.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He’s actually a Manly boy, having grown up in the area and starting his football career there.<\/p>\n

But those close to Ponissi say there is no way he would leave the superb Storm set-up for a basket case like the Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n

Even though there’s no place like home, Ponissi is well settled in Melbourne and nothing Manly do will entice him to leave.<\/p>\n

PNG AIMING FOR ORIGIN SIGNING<\/p>\n

Roosters and NSW State of Origin utility Connor Watson is shaping as one of the first targets of the new PNG Chiefs.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs now have a recruitment officer – former Bulldogs official Liam Ayoub – and he is putting together a hit list.<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

Connor Watson warms up before a NSW Blues State Of Origin training session.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

With his big match experience and ability to play several positions, Watson would be an ideal signing for the Chiefs for 2028.<\/p>\n

His contract with the Roosters expires at the end of 2027 – and even they would find it hard to match the cash-free contracts on offer in PNG.<\/p>\n

EELS OUTCAST COPS ANOTHER BLOW<\/p>\n

Poor Ryan Matterson can’t take a trick.<\/p>\n

Offside at Parramatta, struggling with concussion, it’s been a forgettable year to date for the former representative forward.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Ryan Matterson.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

And things didn’t get much better when Matto was minding his own business with the injured players group at Eels training last week.<\/p>\n

The tall back-rower was minding his own business when a booming kick hit him square on the head, having him seeing stars and possibly setting back his return by a few more weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Manly supremo Max Delmege has called for the current owners, the Penn family, to step down to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-577037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}