Yes he asked for more money initially whilst under contract but was easily playing above the salary that he was being paid at the time and was worth the upgrade at the time.
I do agree that he probably caused disharmony by wanting more money, but he is a modern sportsman. They understand their worth better and also understand that they have a limited shelf-life in order to earn top dollar and set them and their family up. As supporters it is always difficult to see that as we have passion for the club (which by the way having watched DCE over the past few weeks I still believe he has). I can't abide the circus that he created prior to the season starting, but think this was a negotiating tactic to get Manly to get more money and instigated by Orr...
Regarding his worth now....well he's young, clearly has quality, also has appeal to bring in sponsors and whether you like him or not he is putting his body on the line for the club and generally (aside from a ropey one against Canberra) playing well. On top of this I think we have found ourselves in a situation where we will be paying overs regardless as we've left ourselves in the situation of not having any halves for 2016. Players and their managers can hold us to ransome. Would I rather pay overs for someone with DCE ability or overs (but still less) for someone like Cornish, Maloney, Hodkinson, Sandow, Myler etc I know what I would choose. DCE all day long.
I think that we should be bending over backwards to keep him.