from
nrl.com
Big Brother the key to Eagles' hopes of signing Monaghan
7 July 2004
There's one good reason why the club expected to pick up the first wooden spoon in its 57-year history believes it has the edge over NRL title favourites the Sydney Roosters in the chase for Canberra flyer Joel Monaghan's signature - Michael Monaghan.
Manly sit dead last on the NRL ladder after yet another disappointing loss last weekend, but the Sea Eagles hope its new skipper will be the secret weapon in its bid to hold out the Roosters for the Raiders utility back.
"It's a pretty big call for him. He's got the best team in the competition chasing him and the team that's coming last," said Michael, older brother of Joel.
"But I've had a fair bit of input with him coming to Manly and just what he wants to do with his football.
"If we can get a quality outside back along with the (2005) signings of Ben Kennedy and Brent Kite, we are going to have a really strong side here next year - I'd love to see him in the Manly jumper and I'll be trying my best to get him here."
Joel Monaghan's manager Jim Banaghan said his charge would make a final decision on Friday after Manly extended today's deadline to sign.
"We are making a decision on Friday. Manly did put a time frame on us (to sign today) but we said we weren't going with it - Manly have changed their attitude, have withdrawn the timeframe," Banaghan said.
Luring his younger brother to Manly would be yet another major coup for Monaghan, who took over the Sea Eagles captaincy reins from long-time skipper Steve Menzies just last weekend.
Adding to the pressure, Monaghan was named skipper in his first game back from a six-week finger injury.
"Obviously, it added a bit more pressure to the comeback but being a halfback it doesn't change my game too much - they lead the side on the field, it just made it a bit more difficult coming back," he said.
"Beaver (Menzies) has captained the side for a fair while now and I'm only new to the club so it was something I definitely didn't expect but happy to do.
"It was a complete surprise (Menzies' decision). Obviously he thought he needed to pay more attention to his game to help the team and you've got to respect his decision.
"I thought he played pretty well on the weekend so it's obviously helped him, hopefully he gets back to his best because we certainly need him playing his best football."
Monaghan, 24, will feel the heat from the outset as his side battles to avoid an historic wooden spoon in its final eight games.
"I'd like to say it (wooden spoon) doesn't play on your mind but with us sitting last in the competition it is something that does appear in the back of the mind," he said.
"We haven't spoken about it as a group.
"We are all pretty confident of winning the majority of our remaining games.
"People might scoff at that ... but we've shown when we put our best football together we are one of the most dangerous sides out there.
"Hopefully we can really toughen up our defence because we can really score points."
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No offence put piss off Mick, your input is not welcome anymore
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