Eagleheart
Bencher
Cocaine scandal that almost killed off Titans has helped them sign ace half-back Daly Cherry-Evans
THE cocaine scandal that threatened to kill the Titans was described as the darkest day in Queensland sport.
Instead it proved a key moment in helping the strife-torn club to clinch Daly Cherry-Evans.
The Sunday Mail can today reveal the machinations of a $4 million negotiation that steered Cherry-Evans towards Manly until the drug storm sensationally blew the half-back into the path of the Titans.
“In the initial stages, it was assumed he would probably stay where he is,” Titans coach Neil Henry conceded on Saturday.
Six months of meticulous planning, three face-to-face meetings, including secret trips to Sydney, and one boardroom lunch on the Gold Coast was the groundwork that conjured the biggest coup in Titans history.
It was shortly after 9pm on Friday that Titans chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle received the text message from Cherry-Evans’ manager Gavin Orr advising the Manly half-back had just told his teammates he wanted to move to the Gold Coast.
But without the cocaine-supply scandal that rocked the Titans, it is doubtful Cherry-Evans would have left the security of Brookvale for a life of financial uncertainty at the Titans.
The Maroons ace celebrated his 26th birthday on the day Karmichael Hunt and Titans duo Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling were charged with drug offences by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.
At that point, Cherry-Evans was staying at Manly.
Three days later, on Monday, February 23, the Titans unwittingly played their trump card.
Plunged into voluntary administration, the Titans turned to the NRL, largely unaware the governing body’s salvation would extend to preserving their pursuit of Cherry-Evans.
Had the Titans vaudeville show rolled on unabated without NRL intervention, Cherry-Evans would be running on to Brookvale singing Eagle Rock in 2016.
But the NRL’s firm belief a team had to exist on the Coast gave the Test playmaker the last strand of conviction to defect with certainty.
Cherry-Evans’ private concerns were laid bare precisely a week earlier.
On February 16, he and wife Vessa flew to the Gold Coast to meet with Frizelle, manager Orr, Henry and Titans recruitment chief Jamie Mathiou in the boardroom of Frizelle’s Audi dealership at Southport.
They deliberately avoided Titans HQ, opting for Frizelle’s company for total privacy so no players or media would see their covert gathering.
“It was off-site purely to keep it private and not to insult Manly or Daly Cherry-Evans, so we wanted the negotiation to stay quiet,” Frizelle said.
“The club has had such an up-and-down history, I think it was important he got to know who was behind the club and that was our only intention for having the meeting.”
For 90 minutes over a lunch of burgers and steaks served in the 20-person boardroom, they spoke football, life, the direction of the club and the beauty of the Gold Coast community.
Cherry-Evans left impressed but still there were doubts.
He had sought clarity over the Titans’ financial health.
After all, he and Vessa had built a happy life in Sydney.
On April 12 last year, they outlaid $1.355 million for an opulent four-bedroom house at Curl Curl on Sydney’s northern beaches.
If Cherry-Evans was going to leave a new home, and his wife’s nearby family, the Titans needed a bottom line and administrative structure as secure as Fort Knox.
The NRL’s assurances and governance, even amid the drugs fiasco, erased any doubt. And there were personal motivations.
At 26, with 11 Tests, five Origins, one premiership, two grand finals and a Churchill Medal from only four seasons of first-grade at Manly, the challenge to rebuild a club at rock bottom became a major selling point.
“I can’t speak on his behalf, but from the discussions we’ve had with him he obviously felt he has achieved a lot in the game and you know he could see there was a lot of opportunities to be involved in the reconstruction of a club that has been through some difficult times,” Titans boss Graham Annesley said.
“I think that was attractive to him. Whether that was his sole reason or not that is a matter for him.”
The seeds for the great DCE heist were planted in November, shortly after Mathiou signed on as Titans recruitment boss.
A former North Sydney and Cowboys forward who worked under Roosters godfather Nick Politis as the club’s Queensland-based talent spotter, Mathiou went for the jugular.
A no-nonsense operator who calls a spade a shovel, Mathiou, working a year ahead, scanned a list of off-contract players for 2016.
Cherry-Evans’ name shone like a beacon.
He phoned Gavin Orr just before Christmas and expressed interest in the Mackay product.
It is understood Orr shot back: “The Titans? Mate you can’t afford him.” Mathiou replied with a grin: “Bloody oath we can.”
He refused to comment on Saturday, but Frizelle lauded Mathiou as a key figure in broking the deal.
When the former Politis employee formally tabled a three-year deal to Orr early last month, Mathiou walked away convinced the Titans had their man. The Sharks entered the race late with a $2.4 million offer, but were never a serious threat.
To seal the deal, the Titans agreed to extend the term of the initial contract to four years, two of which are in DCE’s favour, meaning he is technically a free agent when the NRL’s TV rights deal expires in 2017.
Frizelle said Henry and Mathiou deserve most credit for the signing coup, fighting hard for Cherry-Evans’ signature despite the Titans’ surfeit of setbacks. “Our board and CEO are up for the challenge every time. Why wouldn’t it be possible?” Frizelle said.
“So we did everything we could to support Neil’s direction building his playing roster and we will continue to do that.
“This is all largely down to Neil and Jamie and the work they’ve put in, which is extensive.”
Henry said even when Manly sensationally withdrew their offer last week, he refused to believe the Titans deal was over the line.
“I thought we were a chance, but to say we were definitely going to snare him is one of the things you can’t ever be definite about,” Henry said.
“Daly has always been honest and upfront … the main thing is he has gone through that diligence and thought for my family and himself personally he feels it’s the best move for him.”
Annesley added: “We all thought it was ambitious (to chase him). He probably could have gone to many clubs, many clubs wealthier than ours.
“But we didn’t go into it just thinking we could play a part in just pushing his price up for somebody else. We went into it hoping that with an ounce of luck we could finish up with one of the best players in the game.”
Finally, the Titans have got the rub of the green.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...aly-cherry-evans/story-fniabrr8-1227252944431
- PETER BADELTODD BALYM
- The Sunday Mail (Qld)
- March 07, 2015 11:00PM
THE cocaine scandal that threatened to kill the Titans was described as the darkest day in Queensland sport.
Instead it proved a key moment in helping the strife-torn club to clinch Daly Cherry-Evans.
The Sunday Mail can today reveal the machinations of a $4 million negotiation that steered Cherry-Evans towards Manly until the drug storm sensationally blew the half-back into the path of the Titans.
“In the initial stages, it was assumed he would probably stay where he is,” Titans coach Neil Henry conceded on Saturday.
Six months of meticulous planning, three face-to-face meetings, including secret trips to Sydney, and one boardroom lunch on the Gold Coast was the groundwork that conjured the biggest coup in Titans history.
It was shortly after 9pm on Friday that Titans chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle received the text message from Cherry-Evans’ manager Gavin Orr advising the Manly half-back had just told his teammates he wanted to move to the Gold Coast.
But without the cocaine-supply scandal that rocked the Titans, it is doubtful Cherry-Evans would have left the security of Brookvale for a life of financial uncertainty at the Titans.
The Maroons ace celebrated his 26th birthday on the day Karmichael Hunt and Titans duo Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling were charged with drug offences by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.
At that point, Cherry-Evans was staying at Manly.
Three days later, on Monday, February 23, the Titans unwittingly played their trump card.
Plunged into voluntary administration, the Titans turned to the NRL, largely unaware the governing body’s salvation would extend to preserving their pursuit of Cherry-Evans.
Had the Titans vaudeville show rolled on unabated without NRL intervention, Cherry-Evans would be running on to Brookvale singing Eagle Rock in 2016.
But the NRL’s firm belief a team had to exist on the Coast gave the Test playmaker the last strand of conviction to defect with certainty.
Cherry-Evans’ private concerns were laid bare precisely a week earlier.
On February 16, he and wife Vessa flew to the Gold Coast to meet with Frizelle, manager Orr, Henry and Titans recruitment chief Jamie Mathiou in the boardroom of Frizelle’s Audi dealership at Southport.
They deliberately avoided Titans HQ, opting for Frizelle’s company for total privacy so no players or media would see their covert gathering.
“It was off-site purely to keep it private and not to insult Manly or Daly Cherry-Evans, so we wanted the negotiation to stay quiet,” Frizelle said.
“The club has had such an up-and-down history, I think it was important he got to know who was behind the club and that was our only intention for having the meeting.”
For 90 minutes over a lunch of burgers and steaks served in the 20-person boardroom, they spoke football, life, the direction of the club and the beauty of the Gold Coast community.
Cherry-Evans left impressed but still there were doubts.
He had sought clarity over the Titans’ financial health.
After all, he and Vessa had built a happy life in Sydney.
On April 12 last year, they outlaid $1.355 million for an opulent four-bedroom house at Curl Curl on Sydney’s northern beaches.
If Cherry-Evans was going to leave a new home, and his wife’s nearby family, the Titans needed a bottom line and administrative structure as secure as Fort Knox.
The NRL’s assurances and governance, even amid the drugs fiasco, erased any doubt. And there were personal motivations.
At 26, with 11 Tests, five Origins, one premiership, two grand finals and a Churchill Medal from only four seasons of first-grade at Manly, the challenge to rebuild a club at rock bottom became a major selling point.
“I can’t speak on his behalf, but from the discussions we’ve had with him he obviously felt he has achieved a lot in the game and you know he could see there was a lot of opportunities to be involved in the reconstruction of a club that has been through some difficult times,” Titans boss Graham Annesley said.
“I think that was attractive to him. Whether that was his sole reason or not that is a matter for him.”
The seeds for the great DCE heist were planted in November, shortly after Mathiou signed on as Titans recruitment boss.
A former North Sydney and Cowboys forward who worked under Roosters godfather Nick Politis as the club’s Queensland-based talent spotter, Mathiou went for the jugular.
A no-nonsense operator who calls a spade a shovel, Mathiou, working a year ahead, scanned a list of off-contract players for 2016.
Cherry-Evans’ name shone like a beacon.
He phoned Gavin Orr just before Christmas and expressed interest in the Mackay product.
It is understood Orr shot back: “The Titans? Mate you can’t afford him.” Mathiou replied with a grin: “Bloody oath we can.”
He refused to comment on Saturday, but Frizelle lauded Mathiou as a key figure in broking the deal.
When the former Politis employee formally tabled a three-year deal to Orr early last month, Mathiou walked away convinced the Titans had their man. The Sharks entered the race late with a $2.4 million offer, but were never a serious threat.
To seal the deal, the Titans agreed to extend the term of the initial contract to four years, two of which are in DCE’s favour, meaning he is technically a free agent when the NRL’s TV rights deal expires in 2017.
Frizelle said Henry and Mathiou deserve most credit for the signing coup, fighting hard for Cherry-Evans’ signature despite the Titans’ surfeit of setbacks. “Our board and CEO are up for the challenge every time. Why wouldn’t it be possible?” Frizelle said.
“So we did everything we could to support Neil’s direction building his playing roster and we will continue to do that.
“This is all largely down to Neil and Jamie and the work they’ve put in, which is extensive.”
Henry said even when Manly sensationally withdrew their offer last week, he refused to believe the Titans deal was over the line.
“I thought we were a chance, but to say we were definitely going to snare him is one of the things you can’t ever be definite about,” Henry said.
“Daly has always been honest and upfront … the main thing is he has gone through that diligence and thought for my family and himself personally he feels it’s the best move for him.”
Annesley added: “We all thought it was ambitious (to chase him). He probably could have gone to many clubs, many clubs wealthier than ours.
“But we didn’t go into it just thinking we could play a part in just pushing his price up for somebody else. We went into it hoping that with an ounce of luck we could finish up with one of the best players in the game.”
Finally, the Titans have got the rub of the green.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...aly-cherry-evans/story-fniabrr8-1227252944431