Manly have called on governments to come to the table to get Brookvale Oval up to scratch after it appeared badly pockmarked in the side’s NRL loss to Canterbury on Friday night.

Bulldogs fullback Brett Morris complained of 10cm divots and feared he could roll his ankle in a “pothole” while the NRL will reportedly investigate the state of the surface.

While there were no worries with the ground when Manly played Melbourne six days earlier, the ground looked in a terrible state on Friday with sandy patches all across the ground.

Manly chairman Scott Penn said he would ask for a “please explain” from Warringah Council and was at a loss to give a reason why the ground was not up to scratch.

“Council need to rectify it because it wasn’t NRL-quality,” Penn told AAP.

“The good thing is the next home game isn’t until early May so they’ve got over a month to get it right. But it’s not acceptable to have patches like that on Friday night.”

After the match, Manly coach Geoff Toovey said the surface was in need of an upgrade but complained the ground had not received government funding because it fell in a safe Liberal seat.

“We’ve been lobbying for some money (for the Brookvale ground) like all the other ovals seem to receive over the years,” Toovey said.

“Being a safe Liberal seat, I don’t want to get into politics, but we seem to miss out quite a bit.”

Penn supported his coach, saying Brookvale had not received the same funding as other Sydney suburban grounds over the last decade.

Manly has a masterplan on the table for a $500 million development of Brookvale which includes 23,000 undercover seats and residential and commercial complexes on Pittwater Road.

The club is seeking assistance from the state government with the planning proposal and Penn said the upgrade was needed to ensure the long-term viability of the ground.

“As a historical case, many suburban grounds received significant upgrades five to 10 years ago,” Penn said.

“They were the beneficiaries of tens of millions of dollars in handouts and it’s disappointing some of the clubs are now only playing a handful of games at these grounds.

“While we missed out on the money, we’re dedicated to playing out of Brooky and we’re wanting to stay there.”

The Rugby League Players Association said it was waiting for a report on the state of the Brookvale pitch and was pushing for ground inspections before each game.

RLPA CEO David Garnsey said inspections 48 hours before games would allow the NRL to determine if it needed to shift or postpone games.

“For the players’ safety to be put at risk is unacceptable and we need to investigate ground inspections,” Garnsey said.

“That way they can make a decision whether they can move it to another ground or move it to another time.

“I know that’s disruptive but player safety is more important.”