Manly won nine of 12 matches heading in to the final round of the regular season and were on track to book a home semi final. But a loss to Norths set up a must-win clash against eventual premiers Easts, who had too much class in the second half on the opening weekend of the playoffs.

The Marlins have promoted Sam Lane to coach the club’s first grade side in 2024 and with Chris Delooze in the UK with the Wallaroos, we caught up with Lane to look back on Manly’s most recent Shute Shield campaign.

Overview with Sam Lane:

“We were there or thereabouts all year but probably weren’t consistent enough over the course of the season,” 2024 assistant coach and newly appointed head coach Sam Lane told Rugby News.

“We played some really good rugby at different points of the season but then had three games where we really weren’t in it. We were poor against Rats on Anzac Day then struggled both times against Gordon.