Toovey was told halfway through last season he would be sacked as coach come season end, despite being one of the Sea Eagles' favourite sons.

And Starling, who was at Dubbo on Tuesday as part of the NRL Community Carnival alongside fellow Sea Eagles Hugh Pratt, said while he owed a lot to his former mentor he was already enjoying life under Barrett.

"We're all feeling really good," he said.

"It was sad what happened to 'Toovs', he gave me my first real shot at the NRL and I'll always be thankful for that and everyone knows Toovs loves the club and he's so passionate so it was unfortunate what happened but that's rugby league these days."

Barrett comes highly regarded after coaching NSW Country in recent seasons while he was also an assistant at the Penrith Panthers.

The former St George Illawarra Dragons half has been tasked with getting the Manly club back into the top eight and Starling said the mood around the club is positive heading into the 2016 season.

"He's been outstanding," the Sea Eagles prop said.

"He came in and said this is the way it is and if you don't like it you can always go but everyone has bought into what he's trying to do, he's brought the boys together.

"We have a lot of younger players and a lot of senior players so he's brought them together and made the senior players responsible for their actions and what they're doing and the leadership has changed."

Starling also took some time to speak about his love of getting involved with the community side of the game.

The Community Carnival involves all 16 NRL sides travelling Australia and New Zealand, promoting the game while also leading seminars in healthy living and belonging.

"I really love it and I try and get out here as much as I can," Starling said.

"It's hard during the season but end of last year I did some stuff with Wellington and drove out to Walgett and I love all this community side of footy.

"We're talking about belonging, hydration and healthy learning things these kids don't know too much about, it's hard for them to adjust from thinking Cole might be a good drink to drinking water as much as they can and get out there and exercise, and it doesn't matter what sport it is."

Starling, who has been out of action briefly during pre-season due to recent elbow surgery, added he was feeling good about his chances of being a regular performer under Barrett.

"It's a tough team to crack but I feel I've done everything I can and given myself the best chance this pre-season," he said.

"I trained really hard and luckily I've always been pretty naturally fit and I've trained hard and worked on my skills."