Manly coach Trent Barrett has hinted he won't turn to Jackson Hastings despite his beleaguered club being thrust into a hooking crisis.
Barrett on Friday took a subtle swipe at the NRL over their decision to reject the club's application to field Junior Kiwis dummy-half Manase Fainu for Saturday's clash with St George Illawarra.
After Api Koroisau was ruled out for at least two months with a broken foot, the Sea Eagles applied for dispensation to bring Fainu, 19, into their squad from outside their 30-man playing group.
Their application was rejected by the NRL on the grounds that they had three players in their squad capable of filling in at No.9 in Hastings, Lewis Brown and Matt Wright.
However Hastings' cards appear to be marked after he was involved in an altercation with skipper Daly Cherry-Evans earlier in the year.
It was reported some players told Barrett and club management they wouldn't play with Hastings - a claim denied by some sections of the group.
Despite their stocks running dangerously low, Barrett on Friday suggested Hastings would not be selected in future weeks.
"He's still at the club. He's been playing at Blacktown. He's been playing at five-eighth," Barrett said.
"Ultimately if we're going to finish the year good we need a specialist hooker and that's Manase and we need to try to get him into the side."
Barrett said the club would consider making yet another claim for dispensation to bring in Fainu but said that seemed like a frustrating process to go through every week for the rest of the year.
He said the NRL's decision was confusing considering neither Hastings, Brown nor Wright are specialists No.9s.
"It's unfortunate with Manase, we did apply for dispensation for him to play," Barrett said.
"Which I thought we were a bit hard done by not to get given he's an out-and-out hooker.
"He's been in our system now for a while now, he's contracted here for a few years, he's a junior Kiwi hooker and it would have been a terrific opportunity to give him 12 weeks of first-grade leading into next year."
Barrett said Brown, Wright and Trent Hodkinson would share dummy-half duties while Koroisau is injured.
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