Josh Schuster’s Sea Eagles career is reportedly on the line after it emerged he is set to be dropped by coach Anthony Seibold for a second time this season.
The 22-year-old was shuffled back to the bench in Round 25 and played only 26 minutes, not recording a single run and only seven tackles with one miss.
Rugby league legend Gorden Tallis believes Schuster is wasting his talent while veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield revealed the moment that made Seibold’s mind up.
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“It’s harder not to have a run than have a run in the backrow, I’ve said it before, there’s not much that he can’t do on the footy field,” Tallis said on NRL360.
“It’s his efforts. You would die to have his ability, it is what he does away from the footy field.”
“It’s interesting you say what he does away from the footy field, because when they hooked him after 20 minutes, they were expecting him to be dirty, to blow up,” Rothfield said.
“He just carried on business as usual in the sheds after the game. That’s when Anthony Seibold was convinced it is time for a (shake-up).”
NRL 360 host Braith Anasta questioned if his form comes down to Schuster having a “false sense of reality” after being handed a hefty salary on potential, not form.
The Sea Eagles re-signed the young gun on a four-year contract worth a reported $3.2 million, staving off interest from the Tigers.
Schuster was also axed the first time prior to his contract extension to improve his fitness, with captain Daly Cherry-Evans delivering some choice words to inspire a turnaround.
However, Schuster’s situation looks to be back to square one and Rothfield questioned if Manly powerbrokers were planning to offload him.
“He hasn’t done the hard work, his teammates have complained about it, have Manly made the right call by signing him?” Anasta asked.
“The off-season is going to be particularly important… I don’t see any way Manly can terminate his contract through a performance clause, it’d have to be a disciplinary reason,” Rothfield said.
“They can’t just pay him out,” Brent Read said.
“I’m not saying they are going to pay him out, I’m saying they can to go his agent and say can you find him a deal somewhere else,” Rothfield replied.
“He’s got to get hungry… Des was trying to (get him fit) last year before he was sacked.”
“I don’t have an issue with them re-signing him, it is the amount they paid to re-sign him, that’s the bigger issue,” Read added.
“They were competing against themselves, there was no one other than them interested in signing him.”
Schuster’s hefty $800,000-per-year salary also hand the Sea Eagles a further headache with four players earning $4 million of their salary cap.
Along with Schuster, Jake and Tom Trbojevic as well as Daly Cherry-Evans are earning a hefty salary, prompting Rothfield to propose the club offload their five-eighth.
“If we are here next year talking about him not competing, getting hooked, they will try and sell him for sure,” Rothfield said.
“You can’t drop him a third time… he wouldn’t be the first big name offloaded, they might contribute $300,000 and give him to Shane Flanagan for $500,000 at St George.
“He has coached him, he knows what he is capable of, Flanagan is desperate to put some quality into that Dragons side.”
Originally published as ‘Hasn’t done the work’: Exit rumour emerges as Josh Schuster axed to reserve grade