by Paul Cook –

With three rounds of the regular season remaining, Manly Marlins hold a narrow one point lead over Eastwood at the top of the Intrust Shute Shield ladder. Win all three with a bonus point and they will retain their mantle as Minor Premiers, having finished top of the pile in 2014 too. But while that achievement reflects a team’s dominance and consistency across 18 rounds, it is what happens in the following three weeks that dictates how history will remember you.

Their last Premiership came back in 1997 and despite being in and around the title conversation as one of the competition heavyweights over the last 20 years, particularly since 2010, Manly have failed time and again to make it to the big dance, falling a game short in each of the last four years.

So what’s different about this year?

Perhaps the approach taken by fledgling head coach Damien Cummins. An assistant for the last four years, Cummins served a worthy apprenticeship under both Tim Lane and Phil Blake before gladly taking up the reins of his local side in the off-season. Having been a part of the team that lifted that elusive trophy in ’97, he certainly knows what it takes to go the distance. But can he translate that experience and know-how from the field to the dressing sheds?

While the rugby itself is obviously the main focus, it has been the things Cummins – universally known as ‘Turtle’ – has promoted off the paddock that have freshened things up and kept the players interested and, perhaps most importantly, relaxed. Monday night training revolves around group psychology sessions, there have been nominated joke tellers on game day to release the pressure valve and they even had a night of Sumo wrestling. Loose forward Ed Gower has certainly revelled in the new atmosphere.

“Blakey (Phil Blake) and Laney (Tim Lane) were very intense characters and Turtle brings a completely different attitude,” says the 28-year-old. “I was interested to see how it was going to turn out because, being an assistant coach, you see a very limited part of what that coaches understanding is of the game. For example, he’d never run a video session before or done video analysis before, which is a key aspect of being a head coach. But I’ve been constantly impressed by the things that he’s been bringing to the team, one of which is the relaxed attitude and the on/off switch style of coaching.

“We had a player whose job it was to tell a joke in the changing room in the pre-match meeting and I can remember a point in my life when I wasn’t allowed to smile before playing rugby for the entire day! It’s a different attitude from what I’ve seen in any 1st Grade environment in my experience but I think it’s working out well because there are times when it becomes too intense. When that happens, you stop enjoying it.

If it’s Monday night, it must be Sumo! – Photo: Adam MacDonald

“Most of the guys work all day, every day and then you’ve got to come in and some nights it’s freezing and you’re training until 8.30pm and then you’re up at 6am to do it all over again. I’ve been perfecting that way of life for the last ten years and it’s always more enjoyable when you see guys coming in and there’s a good attitude and they’re wanting to train.”

For Cummins and assistant coach Dan Brown, the challenge to build unity, respect and belief in a squad that has earned the unfortunate tag of ‘bridesmaids’ in recent years, whilst also engendering a happy and positive atmosphere, has been paramount to their success thus far. The Monday night sessions in particular, have been an invaluable tool in bonding the squad and building relationships.

“We try to keep it light and do a few different things before the game so it’s not all footy, footy, footy,” Cummins explains. “We get to training and I ask the guys how their day has been because it’s not just about footy, it’s about having a good time, enjoying each other’s company and respecting each other.

“We have a workshop every Monday night with a guy who is a psychologist but specialises in men’s psychology. He runs it to how he sees fit but we basically sit down and a question might be raised and then we all talk about it. It’s a bit of an honesty session I suppose but all focusing on positives because in club footy our time is so limited, there might be issues that arise but they’re never addressed because it’s all on-field.

“We go for an hour or more, go over what’s working and what’s not working and I tell them what was good and what wasn’t so good from the weekend and the boys are loving it. There’s so much more to sport than just the on-field skills, the mental side of it is hugely important.”

Of course, as the season has played out and the annual nemesis of finals footy looms ever nearer, the atmosphere around Marlins HQ has become understandably a tad more intense. But Cummins maintains that, while the focus has become more detail specific for the players, nothing has changed too much.

“The relaxed atmosphere is still there and the fun is still there but as we get to the important part of the year, we’re setting more challenges, asking more of the players and pushing them a bit more because they’re going to need to step up.

“The approach has become more individually focused around setting challenges for each player and telling them what I expect of them and what we want to achieve with them. You’ve got to keep it fresh or the message becomes diluted.”

The man they call ‘Turtle’: Damien Cummins gets his point across – Photo: Adam MacDonald

A knockabout character by nature, finding the balance between being one of the boys while also commanding their respect when it matters can be one of the toughest adjustments for a former player to make. But Cummins’ history with the club has broken down a lot of barriers.

“The camaraderie with the guys is always going to be here because a lot of them grew up together and played juniors together. I’ve known some of them for a long time, like BJ Hartmann was my ball boy when he was 10-years-old and I was playing 1st Grade, so I’ve got a good relationship with these guys outside of football and I know what makes them tick. If a harsh word to them is needed, they’ll take it from me but I can have a joke with them as well and I think that’s the balance you’ve got to try and get when you’re a coach.

“I know the balance of what I need, what works and what doesn’t work. I know that the on-field stuff is only the half of it, it’s also about dealing with people, different personalities and egos and trying to understand what makes each person tick in order to get the best out of them on the field. Some guys need to be kicked in the pants and some guys need their back rubbed, you’ve just got to find what pushes their buttons.”

One of his first major decisions was who would be his captain. Ed Gower was the long-time incumbent but Cummins decided to wipe the slate clean and hand the armband to the side’s ‘silent assassin’, Kotoni Ale.

“Ed had been captain for four years at Manly and it wasn’t a case of taking it off him, I just approached this season as a fresh start for the club,” Cummins explains. “We’d lost Tim Fairbrother, Greg Peterson, Mark Swanepoel, Mali Hingano and Brian Sefanaia and I thought it was a good time to have a new start with a new leader and a new voice and I chose Kotoni.

“But you can still be a leader without being captain and Ed is still a big part of the leadership group on and off the field, which is vitally important. We’d played a few games and I asked him how he was going with everything and he said he was actually really enjoying it, he can just go out and play his footy now. He brings physicality, he works hard, he cleans out hard, his set-piece work is good and for me, he’s probably had the best season that I’ve seen him have. He’s in a good space right now and he’s enjoying his footy and it’s shown.”

For Gower himself, the initial loss of the role may have been understandably a tough pill to swallow. But he concedes that it has afforded him the chance to concentrate on his own game for the first time in a while. However, he still gets his point across when necessary.

“As a captain, you spend a lot of time day-to-day just thinking about things you need to say to particular people. I’m not saying I don’t do that anymore but I probably put a little bit less into that and a little bit more time into thinking of the things that I need to do for the team individually. I don’t think anyone who has ever had the experience as a captain that I have, can ever just step back and expect that they don’t have to say anything.

Kotoni Ale was in outstanding form for the Marlins before his tragic injury – Photo: Adam MacDonald

The decision was certainly a boost to Kotoni Ale. A player whose performances had fostered a ‘follow me’ respect from his peers over the years, led by example and was producing arguably the best footy of his career. “He won our man of the match award in five of the first eight games and I think the captaincy took his game to another level,” observes Gower.

I say was because, as those of you who in clubland who witnessed the dramatic events of Saturday May 30th will know, Ale’s season was brought to an abrupt end in horrific circumstances. Some 25 minutes into the local derby against Warringah, in that week’s live TV game on 7Two, Ale sustained a badly broken leg, which led to a lengthy stoppage as club medics and then ambulance crew attended to the stricken player. It was a sight that left all rugby followers cold, let alone those that were on the field, and while Manly went on to record a 37-29 victory, the after effects of the experience took its toll.

“Kotoni’s a great guy, I’ve been playing with him for five years now and I’ve seen him four or five times a week in that time so he’s a close mate and when you see something like that, it’s pretty devastating,” admits Gower. “I remember walking off and feeling like I’d been playing rugby for about six hours because it was mentally quite draining. It just felt like it was a lot more taxing physically and mentally than any other game I can remember. I think that was a bit of a hangover for all of us that went into the Norths game the following week (the Marlins edged home 17-13) and I reckon that was probably one of the worst games I’ve played individually.

“But every time you face something tough and you get through it, you learn from it. I think there’s countless times this squad has been through that over the years and I think that’s why we’re improving each year. Any team that wants to do well is going to have to jump over hurdles along the way and if you can’t, you’re not the best team are you? If you want to be the best you’ve just got to get on with things and keep working hard.

“Every campaign is always a series of obstacles that you’ve got to overcome and every year, there are teams that will have injuries and teams that will lose players to certain things along the way. You lose games, you’ll get certain decisions that will go against you but that’s just part of the journey and if you let it get to you too much then it’s only going to be worse. If you can’t build a bridge and get over it, keep doing what you do and getting better and better, then you’re never going to get anywhere.”

“I think the loss of Kotoni, never mind the fact he was captain, was keenly felt because he’s a very good player,” adds Cummins. “No-one’s irreplaceable but he certainly brings an element to the team that is hard to replace with the way he plays the game and with his leadership.”

With Ale out of the equation, halfback Matt Lucas stepped up into the captaincy role, another player who seems to have lifted with the extra responsibility.

“He’s awesome, he’s been great,” purrs Cummins. “He’s just one of those natural leaders and I think it was good for Kotoni to have him alongside while he grew into the role at the start of the year, they just bounced stuff off each other. He’s been immense this year, he’s taking high balls and tackling opponents twice his size – he’s the Geoff Toovey of rugby!”

The Matt Lucas/Sam Lane combination in the halves has been a cornerstone of Manly’s success in 2015 – Photo: Adam MacDonald

The axis of Lucas and flyhalf Sam Lane has been pivotal to the Marlins’ success this season. Manly have long been renowned for their forward power and the class of 2015 is once again a force to be reckoned with. But it has been the ability of their halves combination to read the game, take the best options and control proceedings with unbridled enthusiasm wrapped in a calm exterior, that has taken the team to another level.

“For mine, they’re the best halfback pairing in the comp,” says Gower. “As a forward line we have so much confidence that if we get our jobs done, the backs will do the rest. I’ve played in so many teams over the years where we’ve been smashing them in the forwards but the backs weren’t helping us out in any way but with these guys, it’s not like that at all. We know that if we get a solid scrum, the backs are going to do something with it and then we can play off that.”

The ingredients are all there then but what can the Marlins do differently to try and cement that elusive Grand Final appearance. A close observer in recent seasons, Cummins thinks he has the right formula in place to go one step further on his watch.

“We had a meeting a fortnight ago when we had five rounds to go and we needed to start thinking about the finals and how we were going to approach each game,” he says. “You don’t want to finish round 18 and say ‘It’s finals now, let’s start playing finals footy’, we wanted to be getting our heads around whether we play for a bonus point or whether we play to the scoreboard and for the win, so we’re very much across how we want to prepare ourselves in the best way possible for the finals.

“There are things that we did towards the end of last season that I look at now – and I probably thought at the time – that weren’t right, and that had a really adverse affect on the guys going into the finals. I don’t think they went into the finals with confidence mentally, they went in a bit undecided about what we were trying to do. I think I know what we did wrong last year, so we’ll see when that time comes again.”

The biggest irony after all this dissection of Manly’s title chances is that Gower, a player whose season has ended a week shy of the finals in six of the last seven seasons, two with Gordon and four with Manly, will not be around to help reap the benefits of Cummins’ vision and of a team he believes in more than any other he has been involved in.

Ed Gower has been in career best form this year according to coach Damien Cummins – Photo: Adam MacDonald

Putting his footy career to one side for once, a family wedding in Scotland will see him absent for a month after tomorrow’s return derby clash with Warringah. Simply asking him about it reveals just what an emotional decision it was for him to make.

“I made the decision sometime ago and it wasn’t easy,” he says. “The heart is definitely heavy, it’s one of those things where you wish it didn’t pan out that way but it has and I think I’ve played my cards the best I can. If anything, I’m lucky that I make it back for the Grand Final if we do get there but I wouldn’t expect to be too heavily involved if we do, I wouldn’t deserve it. Even if the boys get there and I’m here to watch it, that will be something special, knowing that I’ve been a part of the team heading up to it.”

Given his unwanted finals record, even Gower can see the lighter side of his predicament. “Maybe it’s a good thing for the team that I’m going away. Maybe I’m a curse that keeps teams losing semi-finals and they’ll be better off without me!”

All will be revealed over the next six weeks…