THE Sea Eagles signed Blake Green to unleash their newly minted, million dollar skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
And the star No. 7 sees serious shades of Kieran Foran — one of the few that got away from Manly — in how Green goes about his business.
For five very successful seasons the Cherry-Evans-Foran firm was the most well-rounded halves pairing in the competition, delivering a premiership in 2011, a grand final appearance two years later and countless Brookvale victories.
The Kiwi five-eighth’s departure at the end of 2015 sent both players backwards in a big way, Foran off the park and Cherry-Evans on it.
But with Green recruited out of Melbourne with orders to take the heat off Cherry-Evans — who collects a cool $1.25 million a year from Manly — the big money half has that old familiar feeling back again at the scrumbase.
“The way they think about rugby league, the way they want to attack, their thought process on breaking a team down and delivering that final blow to score points.
“In that regard I’m looking forward to playing with someone who’s on that similar wavelength.
“If we can recreate some of the great football that Kieran and I were playing a couple of years ago then I’m obviously a big fan of that. I definitely feel that there.”
Last year Trent Barrett arrived at Manly granting Cherry-Evans an all-access pass to the maroon and white attack, à la Johnathan Thurston at the Cowboys.
It didn’t work. The result, among another year of dramas and injuries on the Peninsula, was a stunted offence that ranked fourth last in the competition and DCE’s running game disappearing somewhere off Manly beach.
Cherry-Evans admits he struggled with the new role and without Foran, as Dylan Walker (eight games), Jamie Lyon (seven), winger Matthew Wright (two), Pita Godinet (one) and Api Koroisau (one) were all shuffled through the five-eighth role alongside him.
“But my role within the side will definitely be a bit different to what people saw last year.
“Without giving too much away I’m looking forward to being a bit freer and playing off the ball a bit more to create some opportunities.
“ ... The way we played last year it felt a bit difficult learning the new system, we completely changed the whole way we attacked last year and that took a long time to adjust to.
“Within that I probably had to sacrifice that (running) part of my game to help everyone else understand our game plan quicker.”
The arrival of 30-year-old Green, signed for two years, is hoped to be the catalyst in a Cherry-Evans form revival, who fell so far in 2016 that he declared his own rep career “non-existent” in a brutal self assessment last week.
It was Green after all that offered another point of attack down the Storm’s left edge for the past two seasons.
The rugby journeyman contributed in no small part to Melbourne’s charge to last year’s grand final, not to mention Cooper Cronk’s Dally M Medal win.
Having come through both Craig Bellamy’s five star systems at the Storm, as well as Michael Maguire’s title winning set up at Wigan, Cherry-Evans is more than happy to hand Green the playmaking reins in 2017.
“We’re definitely using Blake’s knowledge of the game, he’s an extremely smart rugby league player,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I’m always trying to pick his brain because he’s been to so many clubs and had success at those clubs. It’s no coincidence he’s been involved in that.
“I’m trying to learn from him and find out ways to help him and utilise those ways he can help me.
“I think we’ll see a lot of Blake Green controlling the side.
“He’s very experienced and he’s got a great rugby league brain and I feel as though one of my biggest strengths is my running game.
“Blake can help me utilise that part of my game by freeing me up a bit wider and not necessarily getting stuck in the middle of the field as much.”
“I definitely see similarities between Blake and Kieran,” Cherry-Evans says of his new halves partner.
And the star No. 7 sees serious shades of Kieran Foran — one of the few that got away from Manly — in how Green goes about his business.
For five very successful seasons the Cherry-Evans-Foran firm was the most well-rounded halves pairing in the competition, delivering a premiership in 2011, a grand final appearance two years later and countless Brookvale victories.
The Kiwi five-eighth’s departure at the end of 2015 sent both players backwards in a big way, Foran off the park and Cherry-Evans on it.
But with Green recruited out of Melbourne with orders to take the heat off Cherry-Evans — who collects a cool $1.25 million a year from Manly — the big money half has that old familiar feeling back again at the scrumbase.
“The way they think about rugby league, the way they want to attack, their thought process on breaking a team down and delivering that final blow to score points.
“In that regard I’m looking forward to playing with someone who’s on that similar wavelength.
“If we can recreate some of the great football that Kieran and I were playing a couple of years ago then I’m obviously a big fan of that. I definitely feel that there.”
Last year Trent Barrett arrived at Manly granting Cherry-Evans an all-access pass to the maroon and white attack, à la Johnathan Thurston at the Cowboys.
It didn’t work. The result, among another year of dramas and injuries on the Peninsula, was a stunted offence that ranked fourth last in the competition and DCE’s running game disappearing somewhere off Manly beach.
Cherry-Evans admits he struggled with the new role and without Foran, as Dylan Walker (eight games), Jamie Lyon (seven), winger Matthew Wright (two), Pita Godinet (one) and Api Koroisau (one) were all shuffled through the five-eighth role alongside him.
“But my role within the side will definitely be a bit different to what people saw last year.
“Without giving too much away I’m looking forward to being a bit freer and playing off the ball a bit more to create some opportunities.
“ ... The way we played last year it felt a bit difficult learning the new system, we completely changed the whole way we attacked last year and that took a long time to adjust to.
“Within that I probably had to sacrifice that (running) part of my game to help everyone else understand our game plan quicker.”
The arrival of 30-year-old Green, signed for two years, is hoped to be the catalyst in a Cherry-Evans form revival, who fell so far in 2016 that he declared his own rep career “non-existent” in a brutal self assessment last week.
It was Green after all that offered another point of attack down the Storm’s left edge for the past two seasons.
The rugby journeyman contributed in no small part to Melbourne’s charge to last year’s grand final, not to mention Cooper Cronk’s Dally M Medal win.
Having come through both Craig Bellamy’s five star systems at the Storm, as well as Michael Maguire’s title winning set up at Wigan, Cherry-Evans is more than happy to hand Green the playmaking reins in 2017.
“We’re definitely using Blake’s knowledge of the game, he’s an extremely smart rugby league player,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I’m always trying to pick his brain because he’s been to so many clubs and had success at those clubs. It’s no coincidence he’s been involved in that.
“I’m trying to learn from him and find out ways to help him and utilise those ways he can help me.
“I think we’ll see a lot of Blake Green controlling the side.
“He’s very experienced and he’s got a great rugby league brain and I feel as though one of my biggest strengths is my running game.
“Blake can help me utilise that part of my game by freeing me up a bit wider and not necessarily getting stuck in the middle of the field as much.”
“I definitely see similarities between Blake and Kieran,” Cherry-Evans says of his new halves partner.
