Disquiet: Manly coach Geoff Toovey. Credit:Dallas Kilponen What the Eels and the Sea Eagles will both privately admit is factions within their own clubs, as well as player managers looking to create waves in the market, are causing trouble. Fancy that. As revealed by The Sun-Herald on Sunday, Arthur is sitting high on a Manly hit list of possible replacements for Toovey, who is offside with senior players after he pushed favourite son Glenn Stewart out the door last year. Anthony Watmough has gone to the Eels and Steve Matai wants out to the Warriors or Gold Coast. Halves Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans are unsigned beyond this year and apparently fielding offers from every club except the New England Patriots.

Sea Eagles management desperately wants to stitch up their halves before the start of next season, but that appears to be a pipedream. There are no extra dollars to be gained in signing early. Foran has been strongly linked to the Bulldogs - and his former Manly coach Des Hasler - since the middle of last year as a replacement for Trent Hodkinson. Cherry-Evans, meanwhile, says he hasn't even had a discussion with anyone about his future. For his part, Toovey needs to regain the parts of the dressing room he's lost, even though he's signed to the end of next year and the players are saying they are happy in pre-season training. There's been acknowledgement behind closed doors at Brookvale that the Stewart episode hurt his standing with the players. There are doubts, however, that the relationship can be repaired.

Whether that means Sea Eagles management is serious about Arthur - who coached under Toovey when Manly were surprise grand finalists against the Roosters in 2013 - depends on who you talk to. Arthur is signed until the end of 2017. It's been reported he has a get-out clause. The Eels deny this, although their memory is hazy when it comes to clauses. "Jarryd can't play for anyone in the NRL but Parramatta this year," Parramatta chief executive Scott Seward told News Ltd about any potential return of Jarryd Hayne if his NFL dream falls over. That was a surprise to the Hayne camp, which is adamant he will be a free agent should he return to the NRL. Arthur wants what every other coach wants - to do his job without any interference from the front office. At the Eels, it runs deeper, given the underhanded, Machiavellian dealings of past board members.

Arthur, who ensured the Eels didn't claim a third consecutive wooden spoon last year, has done well to shield himself and his players from the circus. Yet the shadow of Daniel Anderson continues to be cast over him. Anderson was installed as general manager of football at the Eels in late 2013, although he has sniffed around other jobs - including the one vacated by Wayne Bennett at the Knights late last year. It was supposed to bring stability and harmony to a club that had chewed up and spat out Stephen Kearney and Ricky Stuart in the space of three years. Instead, it had the potential to have Arthur looking over his shoulder, with a ready-made replacement ready to step in should he quickly depart the scene. It was the reason Jason Taylor didn't want the job.