CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 27: Daly Cherry-Evans of the Sea Eagles looks on during the round 24 NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the Manly Sea Eagles at GIO Stadium on August 27, 2022 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The Manly Sea Eagles have taken a dramatic swipe at the Wests Tigers over recent rumours which surfaced surrounding their own salary cap position.
The two clubs, who will clash in Round 27 to close the regular season in a game that is likely to be played without anything bordering on finals implications, have recently been involved in plenty of moves off-field.
Maligned half Luke Brooks has signed with the Sea Eagles from next year, while Tommy Talau was announced as a departure to the Northern Beaches at the same time.
More recently, the Sea Eagles offloaded both Latu and Samuela Fainu to the Tigers. The talented brothers both played for the New South Wales under-19 outfit this season in the junior State of Origin match.
The Sea Eagles were forced to publically deny their salary cap issues, with CEO Tony Mestrov jumping onto the front foot to squash any idea that the club would have to offload players, despite a top-heavy squad with big-money deals for the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Jake Trbojevic, Daly Cherry-Evans and Josh Schuster.
“We are under the cap for next year,” Mestrov said per News Corp at the time.
“We're managing the cap very well. We're in a really good place from our point of view. There are some clubs struggling with roster management but we're not one of them.
“There are a lot of rumours but people don't know the facts.”
The comments came amid rumours the Tigers would also make a play for gun Manly second-rower Haumole Olakau'atu.
The Sea Eagles though, according to Wide World of Sports, now believe the rumours around their salary cap were actively started by the Tigers, with a source at the club telling the publication that they only recently were given the all-clear on the salary cap by the NRL.
"We believe that the rumours started from the Tigers camp and they are just trying to cause trouble for us," a highly-placed Manly source told the publication.
"We were only recently given a clean bill of health by the NRL regarding our salary cap and they even found some money we hadn't used.
"Yet this mystery story comes out that we have cap problems and it set off alarm bells with player managers we are dealing with.
"It's also upset our players with several thinking they will have to be moved on because we don't have room for them.
"It's dirty tricks and we won't be forgetting it."