They've long been a club everyone loves to hate and now Manly are drawing the ire of rivals on a new battleground.

Angry western Sydney clubs have gone to the NSWRL to voice their frustration over the Sea Eagles' recruitment of under-age players from their catchment areas and now they are ready to take action themselves in an effort to thwart the raiding of their rich junior nurseries.

While Trent Barrett's first-grade side is in the race for a top-four finish after an impressive win over Sydney Roosters on Sunday, there has also been success for Manly in the junior ranks this year. The Sea Eagles made the grand final of the Harold Matthews under-16 representative competition for the first time with the team coached by Brett Fulton – son of Immortal and Manly football department boss Bob – suffering a narrow defeat to Newcastle at Leichhardt Oval.

There was a Hopoate (Albert) and a Trbojevic (Ben) in the Manly line-up but there were also others recruited from outside the northern beaches. And it is Manly's use of those out-of-area players that has left Canterbury, Parramatta and Western Suburbs unimpressed about the way their junior talent is being picked off.

After the age of 13, when clubs put their best emerging players on a "quarantine list", rivals have to pay a development fee if they want to take a player from another area. Manly are far from alone in recruiting from the west – the Sydney Roosters signed four talented teenagers from the Cabramatta district on Tuesday.

But clubs who have lost players to the Sea Eagles claim they are getting around paying fees by having juniors join their system even before 13 and encouraging players and their families to align with certain player managers. Later, they are transporting them by bus for junior rep games and training.

"There seems to be some general ill feeling from other clubs towards Manly but the NSW point of view is they're not currently breaking any rules," NSWRL general manager of football B.J. Mather said.

Some district rugby leagues are now considering taking matters into their own hands and banning any players who defect to Manly for junior rep teams from taking part in their local competitions for five or more years.

Parramatta chief executive Bernie Gurr said he accepted that clubs, particularly those that didn't have large junior catchment areas, were going to "fish where the fish are" but added that he didn't personally believe it was "healthy to be taking players at 13, from a philosophical point of view".

Apart from trying to re-establish the NRL side as a premiership force, an objective Manly are well on the way to achieving under Barrett, part of the mandate of Fulton snr when he returned to the Sea Eagles was to strengthen the club's junior ranks. The club has a proud history of local juniors making it big, the most recent examples being the emergence of brothers Tom and Jake Trbojevic as genuine stars of the code.

Centre Brad Parker, who scored a try against the Roosters and has just been re-signed by Manly, and forward Darcy Lussick were other northern beaches products in Barrett's team at Lottoland on Sunday.

The Sea Eagles reject criticism of their junior recruitment, saying they are not ashamed of building up their juniors by filling positions with players who can't get an opportunity elsewhere.

"We had four local juniors in our NRL team on the weekend. I don't think too many other clubs could say that," said Manly football manager Gareth Holmes, a former Eels football manager. "From what I understand, the players that we have recruited have been players who have been unwanted in those districts. We've given them an opportunity to play.

"If these were kids that Canterbury or Parramatta wanted to keep, why would they then leave to make the journey out to Narrabeen [to train] three times a week? If those districts were genuinely interested in those kids, it's common sense that they would stay."

One club in the west unconcerned about Manly's recruitment in the west is Penrith, who supported the Sea Eagles' partnership with Blacktown Workers for a feeder team in the NSW Intrust Super Cup.

"I have a great relationship with Bob Fulton and he always calls to discuss young players he might be looking at for an opportunity with his club Manly," Panthers general manager Phil Gould said.

"We never stand in the way of youngsters feeling like they have a pathway to the NRL. The deal between Blacktown Workers and Manly for the Manly club to have a team in the NSW Cup was approved by our junior league board for 12 months. That situation is regularly being reviewed, but I have no issues with kids getting a chance to realise their dreams."