After a disappointing start to the 2025 season, Manly bounced back and challenged most at the back end of last year.

Sam Lane returns for his second season in charge at Manly Oval and will be supported by some experienced assistant coaches and a fairly handy looking top squad on paper.

Overview with Sam Lane:

“Well, we’re undefeated in 2026 so far so things are looking great,” Lane joked. 

“But we have had a really good preseason.

“A lot of our guys were here in January which has allowed us to build together from the start. Last year where it felt like we were building it whilst still waiting on a lot of guys to arrive.

“I think we’re pretty fit. We’re still getting clarity on certain parts of our game, but I would say we’re trending in a nice direction without looking too far forward.

“As cliché as it is, we’re always learning and last year was a good example of that. There’s plenty of things that I’ve learnt, and that the club has learnt.

“We’ve added some experienced guys into our coaching group in Nathan Grey and Harry Fehily. Those guys have been around, and although I don’t have all of the answers and they don’t have all of the answers, collectively I think we’re in a prettygood spot.

2026: 10th

Ins: Niko Lauti, Malakai Taulani (GPS), Fereti Sa’aga (Melbourne), Cian Hurley (Southland), Alex Wardell (UK), Jack Condon (Canberra), Stu Tualima (GPS), Billy Dickens(Easts), Jo Dillon (Canberra) , Niko Foliaki (MLR), Will Kaye, Meli Dreu (Drua), Ben Kafer. 

Outs: Brayden Barratt (subbies), Charlie Powell (UK), Justin Mataele (UK), Ethan Cutler (Italy), Wilson Dulieu (retired), Ben Burnell (Wales)

What sort of rugby will we see from Manly this year? 

“Defence last year was an issue for us and we had some discipline issues as well like a lot of clubs, particularly around tackle height,” Lane said. 

“Defence has been a big focus, Harry Fehily is leading that department and Greysy’s obviously a handy eye and ear in that department to bounce ideas across. 

“The goal is to make sure that we can move well enough to defend well but also have that mental capacity to stay disciplined and keep the referee out of the game with our tackle height.

“With the ball we’ve changed a little bit of system stuff from last year. I was pretty happy with some aspects of last year — when we had the right guys there, we could move the ball and had some punch and power in the middle.

“We want to find a balance of playing attractive rugby but also playing in the right areas of the field. Manly has always had an attractive style of play, with good crowds wanting to see the ball in hand more often than not.

“We’re finding that balance of when to kick, and what sort of kick, which is a big one for our young game drivers, and making sure that we’ve got the ability to get the ball into space.

“We’ve got a few guys with pretty good skill sets so we should be able to move the ball pretty well.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Niko Lauti is a No.8 who is coming out of a religious mission and playing his first year of rugby in a while. In one of the trials he made 18 tackles and he’s a pretty scary ball carrier. 

“He’ll be one to watch on the back of a really impressive preseason. 

“We’ve also got young Stu Tualima who looks an explosive athlete, brother of Tuaina at the Brumbies.”

Who do Manly play in the grand final this year and why?

“The Rats. They did pretty well to retain a lot of their squad so to play them in a grand final, the Northern Beaches would be wild. 

“It’s going to be another one of those comps where anyone can beat anyone on their day though, so it’s hard to predict.”