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Damien he didnt want too much money at all. That's fake news mate. He was being offered well under a million a season and was thinking it through, as is customary. Then Manly withdrew the offer, obviously because of salary cap issues and retaining both DCE and Foran, and they chose to go for Foran. Then Foran was offered big money at Parramatta and signed with them. By that time DCE, who obviously thought Manly werent interested, signed with the Titans for four years for $5.2 million. It was Manly that realised its mistake and then had to offer a better deal to bring him back and reneg on the agreement. He had always said he wanted to stay at Manly but Manly obviously preferred Foran. So what would you have done?
At the time it was right but in retrospect going to the Titans would have been best. Who's to say the club offered him more than the original deal and his management wanted more in order to renege on his Titans deal? Anyways the Penn's must love him because he has resigned on the same deal for another 2 years which is ridiculous.
 
And I would agree it is too much and not necessary. Manly dont have the Titans this time to compete for the signature and I doubt DEC is wanting to move elsewhere.
Unfortunately we got spooked by the Dolphins, thinking they will probably but in a big bid for him. Lucky Evans again, just like the Titans fiasco with Evans cashing in on our fear of losing him...ca ching !!
 
Again conjectural. Hastings for example, who I admire, has a long way to go to equal DCEs range of skills. Mind you I wish Hastings had stayed. But it comes down yet again to how we each perceive. And its seems that a lot of people, including our members, SOO selectors, etc recognise DCE's talents. Not just me here.
Agree to disagree but there has always been a pro-dce and against-dce divide on here so yes, you’re definitely not on your own in believing in him. I’ve switched at times, but I think the fact such divide has been dominant on silvertails over the years (post 2015) is a little telling.

I know he has some talents at times, like some beautiful cut out passes, but I don’t think that’s really going to cut it for what we need from our halfback. He’s a 5/8 still for mine and we’ve always needed a traditional half next to him for our side to ever be steady imo, as history has shown. He’s been the dominant half for nearly a decade now and his opinion has wavered based on the number 6 next to him. But this year he wasn’t really ever performing, even though foz was probably our best player over the opening few months.

I’ve just believed in dce too many times now to ever be totally sold again. Hope he does well in 23’ and hope he improves defensively. He works sometimes in origin because it’s a simple role and he doesn’t really take the reigns. The opposition are busy enough trying to maintain Munster, Grant and Hunt, whereas dce becomes a distributor and demands less attention. Infact, dce’s origin role is exactly what we need; something simple. Sometimes for us he can be centre stage - but too often I find its for the wrong reasons. He’s very durable, i’ll give him that, but I just want someone to take the reigns, play-straight and direct, lead from example (not just words) and never hesitate.

It’ll be hard for us to see from the same perspective as we both rated his 2022 differently. Personally I felt he was sometimes in the way, whereas you feel he is held back. It’s a bit of both at different times. At club level, I don’t think his season deserved a pass mark.
 
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At the time it was right but in retrospect going to the Titans would have been best. Who's to say the club offered him more than the original deal and his management wanted more in order to renege on his Titans deal? Anyways the Penn's must love him because he has resigned on the same deal for another 2 years which is ridiculous.


And who would have replaced him? Kane Elgey, who refused to come, then came later and was a major flop. Who else? We had just lost Foran and looked like losing DCE. Both of our champion halves gone. And no one to replace them. Look how hard it was just to get a decent 5/8 to replace Foran. Green was the only one to come close. We would have been spoon class, especially when Manly also got caught over salary cap breach. Maybe could have held onto Gutherson, but he'snot a half. We had no one and there was no one available as shown by their efforts to get Elgey with a big contract offer. We were damned lucky to get DCE back, and it cost us because of some poor decision making back then. I think he was being offered something like $850,000 yearly initially or less after an initial $1 million offer.. Whhops

 
G'day all,I read an interview with DCE where he discussed his contract negotiations for his extension in which he stated that he knew it wouldn't be on the same terms that he currently had.How much of a reduction who knows,but it's a fair bet that his extension is less than the reported $1.2million a season of his current deal.
cheers mike
 
You would hope he has saved and invested a fair share of all that money he has received. That's a hell of lot of money over 10+ years! Somewhere something good has to come out of this. Is he any good at playing golf? Could go on the pro-celebrity golf circuit after league retirement?
 
the best teams have the halfbacks that game manage, kick, and position to kick in an attacking fashion, and take the ball to the line to promote your supports.. DCE resists to improve any of these key halfback disciplines.

manly lack the halfback skillsets overall as a team, and this is a major factor in us being flashy pretenders that chase points as opposed to building a game
its impossible to afford DCE and the extra skills without screwing with the team balance

if you use your head and take emotion out of it its pretty obvious what needs to be done

the club will spend 10 seasons attempting to put a team around him , that compliments his football whims only to be be remembered as flat track bullies that rarely troubled the heavyweights
 
G'day all,I read an interview with DCE where he discussed his contract negotiations for his extension in which he stated that he knew it wouldn't be on the same terms that he currently had.How much of a reduction who knows,but it's a fair bet that his extension is less than the reported $1.2million a season of his current deal.
cheers mike
Thanks Mike I hope that is true I really do and it makes me feel better for the future if it is ,I wonder if there was an article saying that . Although I worry that Penn is to DCE what Alan Bond was to Kerry Packer .
And as Kerry often used to like to say ,""you only get one Alan Bond in your life time ,and I have had mine"" or words to that effect. Anyways lets hope not
 
Otherwise back in 2015 the Titans would not have been offering 1.3 million a year.
The Titans were desperate, still are. They, like all the weaker clubs (which now includes us), had to offer "overs" to get their man. Unfortunately, we became even more desperate and offered "over overs" with our lifetime deal.

DCE's defensive reads and errors have been discussed ad nauseam over the years. He rushes out of the line when he should hold, slides when he should move up and moves up when he should slide. Whatever defensive pattern we work to (assuming we are working to one) ends up in tatters. No matter who we put out there with him, that side of our defensive line is a shambles. You might see him trying hard to make up for the deficiencies of others; I see him creating more problems than he ever solves.
 
The Titans were desperate, still are. They, like all the weaker clubs (which now includes us), had to offer "overs" to get their man. Unfortunately, we became even more desperate and offered "over overs" with our lifetime deal.

DCE's defensive reads and errors have been discussed ad nauseam over the years. He rushes out of the line when he should hold, slides when he should move up and moves up when he should slide. Whatever defensive pattern we work to (assuming we are working to one) ends up in tatters. No matter who we put out there with him, that side of our defensive line is a shambles. You might see him trying hard to make up for the deficiencies of others; I see him creating more problems than he ever solves.
Our middle defence doesn't help so many times a Manly player left on the ground in the ruck (Walker or a prop) pulling the outside defender's in,fix the middle and our right edge will improve
 
And who would have replaced him? Kane Elgey, who refused to come, then came later and was a major flop. Who else? We had just lost Foran and looked like losing DCE. Both of our champion halves gone. And no one to replace them. Look how hard it was just to get a decent 5/8 to replace Foran. Green was the only one to come close. We would have been spoon class, especially when Manly also got caught over salary cap breach. Maybe could have held onto Gutherson, but he'snot a half. We had no one and there was no one available as shown by their efforts to get Elgey with a big contract offer. We were damned lucky to get DCE back, and it cost us because of some poor decision making back then. I think he was being offered something like $850,000 yearly initially or less after an initial $1 million offer.. Whhops

Well the club hasn't really set the comp on fire since he backflipped on his deal. We have only made the eight 3 times since 2016 and haven't looked like winning any premierships. So the backflip hasn't really done anything but make it hard for Manly to sign quality NRL 1st graders.
 
The Titans were desperate, still are. They, like all the weaker clubs (which now includes us), had to offer "overs" to get their man. Unfortunately, we became even more desperate and offered "over overs" with our lifetime deal.

DCE's defensive reads and errors have been discussed ad nauseam over the years. He rushes out of the line when he should hold, slides when he should move up and moves up when he should slide. Whatever defensive pattern we work to (assuming we are working to one) ends up in tatters. No matter who we put out there with him, that side of our defensive line is a shambles. You might see him trying hard to make up for the deficiencies of others; I see him creating more problems than he ever solves.


Discussed by who? I'm not suggesting his reads are always the best but every player makes wrong reads at different times. To pick and choose is not looking at the situation holistically and surely to see a player for what he does in totality is a fairer means of determining worth. If I chose, I could look at any player on the field and find faults if I was looking for them. Its the old adage Not seeing the forest for the trees. Shall I start to dismantle Turbo for elements of him that I choose to see as a means of diminishing his value. I can do it if you wish. Injury prone for a start, some times he's position ally not in the right location for defense, some games he shows little attacking flair, sometimes he's too predictable for the opposition and his effectiveness is neutered. I could go on, its easy. Surely seeing the overall value of the player is what is important, not if he overplays occasionally or like Johnny Gibbs, refused to pull his socks up.
 
As is generally the case with debates on DCE, we will have those firmly in his corner coming out with the usual raft of excuses. Our forwards don't lay a platform for him, he hasn't had a good 5/8 with him, our team isn't good enough, Tommy is injured .........

That's all wonderful and some of them may be valid, but answer me this. What changes next year to make those excuses go away ?? What will DCE do differently next year that will turn us into a premiership threat that he hasn't done for the last 7 years ?? What ??? My bet is nothing changes. There is no cavalry coming, other than the hope that Turbo plays a full season uninterrupted by injury. If anything we are weaker in all those areas that currently give him a hall pass by his supporters as reasons we can't win a title.

I just don't understand why we have locked ourselves into 3 more years of that. Try something different.
 
The Titans were desperate, still are. They, like all the weaker clubs (which now includes us), had to offer "overs" to get their man. Unfortunately, we became even more desperate and offered "over overs" with our lifetime deal.

DCE's defensive reads and errors have been discussed ad nauseam over the years. He rushes out of the line when he should hold, slides when he should move up and moves up when he should slide. Whatever defensive pattern we work to (assuming we are working to one) ends up in tatters. No matter who we put out there with him, that side of our defensive line is a shambles. You might see him trying hard to make up for the deficiencies of others; I see him creating more problems than he ever solves.
DCE and Haumole together on that side of the field in defence are a complete nightmare!
 
As is generally the case with debates on DCE, we will have those firmly in his corner coming out with the usual raft of excuses. Our forwards don't lay a platform for him, he hasn't had a good 5/8 with him, our team isn't good enough, Tommy is injured .........

That's all wonderful and some of them may be valid, but answer me this. What changes next year to make those excuses go away ?? What will DCE do differently next year that will turn us into a premiership threat that he hasn't done for the last 7 years ?? What ??? My bet is nothing changes. There is no cavalry coming, other than the hope that Turbo plays a full season uninterrupted by injury. If anything we are weaker in all those areas that currently give him a hall pass by his supporters as reasons we can't win a title.

I just don't understand why we have locked ourselves into 3 more years of that. Try something different.
agreed - we needed a succession plan as soon as the Dolphins were announced and let him go to the Dolphins and even play there this year... groom Weekes for 6 maybe and keep Foran at 7 for two years until Fainu/Humphreys might be ready?
 
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Well the club hasn't really set the comp on fire since he backflipped on his deal. We have only made the eight 3 times since 2016 and haven't looked like winning any premierships. So the backflip hasn't really done anything but make it hard for Manly to sign quality NRL 1st graders.


So its his fault. Or is it Turbos, or Jakes or Forans. And then maybe we have forgotten the years when our salary cap was reduced. We did in fact set the comp on fire in 2021 and the main attacking players were Turbo and DCE (check their offloads, try assists, tries), and DCE's defense. We wont of course discuss injuries. So many times in the past the difference between winning and losing was something special about DCE. Fields goals, try assists etc. Do we blame Thurston for the Cowboys finishing 15th in 2008, 12th 2009 15th 2010 then 7th, 5th 8th and 13th in his last year. Sure they got a premiership during that time, but also a lot of poor results. One player doesnt make a side
 
Discussed by who?

By multiple posters, multiple times on this forum. Didn't think its was worth rehashing in detail.

Surely seeing the overall value of the player is what is important, not if he overplays occasionally or like Johnny Gibbs, refused to pull his socks up.

Of course, but we all see what we want to see.

In terms of overall value, I just don't know where I'd put Cherry. In purely monetary terms, I reckon he's overpaid, especially considering the percentage he takes of the team's salary cap, but his price is decided by the market and he's always been entitled to take as much as he can get. In terms of his value to the team, it's difficult to say if the negatives outweigh the positives overall.

In part I think that's because DCE is one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen play rugby league. I've said before that he reminds me of the little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead: when he's good, he's very, very good, but when he is bad, he is horrid. Sometimes he looks like the best halfback in the NRL; at other times he looks like he's never played a game of rugby league in his life.

But nothing any of us says matters. Fact is, we're stuck with him, and we need to make the best of it.
 
So its his fault. Or is it Turbos, or Jakes or Forans. And then maybe we have forgotten the years when our salary cap was reduced. We did in fact set the comp on fire in 2021 and the main attacking players were Turbo and DCE (check their offloads, try assists, tries), and DCE's defense. We wont of course discuss injuries. So many times in the past the difference between winning and losing was something special about DCE. Fields goals, try assists etc. Do we blame Thurston for the Cowboys finishing 15th in 2008, 12th 2009 15th 2010 then 7th, 5th 8th and 13th in his last year. Sure they got a premiership during that time, but also a lot of poor results. One player doesnt make a side
You make some good points but it doesn't change that DCE can't control and game manage. When the team struggles he adds to that struggle or makes dumb decisions but don't get me wrong he has some positives like his field goal abilities, long kicking game, durability and tackles tremendously but the negatives out weigh the positives especially when you have plodders around him.
 

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