Geoff Toovey has taken a parting shot at Manly, questioning why the club’s football department is being dismantled.

Toovey will clean out his desk on Monday after being replaced as coach by Trent Barrett for next NRL season with three key staffers to follow him out the door.

Assistant coaches Steve Georgallis and Dave Penna and football manager Steve Gigg have also fallen victim to the bloodletting.

While Toovey has been dignified since learning his fate, he took a veiled swipe at the club’s management on Sunday night.

The Sea Eagles failed to reach the finals for the first time in a decade however the side has been successful under his watch. They made three finals series in his first three years including the 2013 grand final.

Toovey questioned why he and his colleagues were being let go and insisted they should have been shown loyalty.

“We’ve had a fantastic coaching department for the last decade, it’s been pulled apart, I’m not too sure why,” he said.

“But as long as the local juniors like the bloke next to me, Jake (Trbojevic), are playing for the club, it’s in pretty good shape.”

Toovey said the emotion of his last game had not hit him as he prepared to part ways after a 28-year association as a player and coach.

“I’m not really an emotional person. Okay, I am actually,” he said.

“I think I perforated Dave Penna’s ear drum up in the box towards the end of the game there. I’ll probably owe him a beer or two.”

The Sea Eagles fell just one win short of a top eight finish, after being last on the ladder after 16 rounds.

Toovey said he believed his side belonged in the top eight but were made to pay for their poor start to the year.

“Should have, could have. That’s always the question,” he said.

“I thought Cronulla are a quality side and a well-balanced side.

“Using the coach’s terminology, they snuck under the radar a little bit. I think they’ll be a bit of a surprise packet in the competition.

“We were just too inconsistent particularly at the beginning of the year and it’s obviously cost us at the back end of the year.”