The Daly Cherrygraph

[LeonardCohen]

Listen to Jake speak today, that will cheer you up..

He definitely sounded unhappy. He called him Cherry-Evans too, which is interesting. A good mate is Chez and a bad teammate is Cherry-Evans.

 

[Mac Man]

Later Cherry Evans

 

[madmax]

I still don’t understand why any club would want to sign a 37 year old halfback. The media has been blowing smoke up his arse.

Especially at his asking price of $1.1m per season.

 

[Uber Eagle 72]

Especially at his asking price of $1.1m per season.

I think the Dolphins would pay it. Roosters could easily find a way! also .

 

[madmax]

Fu*k we're all going to be eating a massive serve of humble pie if he actually retires. 🤪

So why not just say it mate! He started this $hit fight with his announcement on live TV. If you actually are retiring then just say it & if not just say I’m going elsewhere not this bs I’m not making a decision yet. He’s advised he is leaving Manly therefore you’re retiring or signed elsewhere.

 

[madmax]

I think the Dolphins would pay it. Roosters could easily find a way! also .

Good riddance mate! DCE at his age is not worth $1.1m. If the other teams can afford that kind of money then cya later.

 

[Brookie1973]

Still doesn't add up. IF he wanted out early last year then clearly Manly knew we wouldn't be keeping him past this year. Then why the fu*k did we so readily let Humphreys walk out the door. Has our management/recruitment incompetence level excelled past previous years or is there more to this saga.

I’d say the answer may be that seibold just didn’t rate Humphreys, hence his delayed debut. Have to say I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw of him in the lower grades either, but he is certainly doing well so far at Souths. Good chance seibold may be regretting letting him go.

 

[bob dylan]

Would of been better announcing this after Manlys season has ended. It would of been the end of the footy season, and we the Manly supporters would of stewed about all of this in the off season instead of now.

You mean like Des did after 2011 🙂

 

[bob dylan]

I’ve only got one on ignore , a member on here that tried to trash me about the work I did when running the MWTS.

Everyone else is free to have their own opinions ,after all it’s a forum.

I’ll just choose to disengage

Wow I have a dozen complete dribblers on IGNORE.

It sure makes for a better experience.

 

[mickqld]

So why not just say it mate! He started this $hit fight with his announcement on live TV. If you actually are retiring then just say it & if not just say I’m going elsewhere not this bs I’m not making a decision yet. He’s advised he is leaving Manly therefore you’re retiring or signed elsewhere.

None of it makes sense. Just more DCE grandstanding.

 

[LeonardCohen]

The part that irks me the most is his spin about revealing his intentions now so the club can ‘move on and find a replacement.’ Like it’s some sort of favour to go on 100% Footy without notifying the club of the media ****storm he is about to reign down on them, even though we were already informed in December?! Makes heaps of sense Daly…and then to have Gus suggest that’s it’s impressive and professional?! That stereotype about dumb footballers is certainly ringing true…and to think Daly and Gus are considered ‘smart’ by comparison. 😂

 

[bob dylan]

There’s so much that may , might , might not , possibly , maybe , maybe not happened in the last 6 months.

I doubt we’ll ever know.

I’m past it now , I’m just unhappy at the departure news and how it’s been delivered , and it’s clear he doesn’t give a **** about the fans.

So that’s it from me , wouldn’t boo him, doesn’t mean I have to like him

See you should of been like me, I have never liked him.

He is not alone, there have been a dozen players over the past 5 season I dont care for, they are not Manly material but wear the jesrsey. Been a coach or two also.

 

[BirdMan4ever]

Hello Silvertails, back in Aus and have been finally lured back by the drama after an off-season hiatus 🙂

This whole situation is quite odd to be blunt, and In my view there are 3 dynamics at play here:

(1) The Club defence angle:

• Mestrov needs to defend the club's position in all this, thats his job
• The club's decision making in light of the accusations of 'lowballing' and mismanagement of negotiations.
• Being accused by the Murdoch press of being 'Filthy' at DCE about the announcement and countering that by trying to dilute this narrative with 'we were always in the know', IE in control
• Needing to avoid the irony of screwing up yet again after the high-profile 'backflip' on the Titans, where ultimately Manly paid a premium to keep DCE long-term, after fumbling the initial negotations and favouring a Foran-led outcome.

Even though that call on a long-term DCE contract arguably paid off, it wasn't by design, rather sheer dumb luck that DCE proved to be so durable, and easily met the Minimum Viable Product of a marquee signing that benefited from the reality of inflation of contractual value. He was far more convincing as a long-term signing than virtually every other player at other clubs on similar arrangements (eg Taumalolo, Ponga, Hunt - who had injury/form challenges over their contract periods)

(2) DCE Legacy angle

• DCE is defending his reputation and right to choose his own path. He is trying to avoid a 'Mercenary' brand to his currently wholesome legacy
• However his reasoning lacks a rational justification. He could have made his decisions under the umbrella of the Manly Club, and ruled out picketing other clubs to make a point of his value.
• He obviously is not interested in a post-game career in coaching with Manly after the way he has handled this
• It's his last year at the Manly club he says. He is leaving the club so he can consider his future - without any pressure. Yet Manly insist the lack of an offer was an agreed upon point.
• His reasons for wanting out of the club to embrace the freedom to 'consider his options' are absolute bollocks. If the club werr not putting any pressure on him to make a decision and not 'withholding a contract', rather waiting on his direction for whether he would play on, then that is understandable - not many players would be eligible for a contract of significant value at his age. Even the NRL valued his benchmark contract at $400k.
• Manly insist they would have presented a contract in the scenario a competitive offer was forthcoming, else they would have waited his decision, assessed his value/form and reacted accordingly. From a bsuiness standpoint it's plausiable.
• DCE is articulate in the way a politician is articulate - he has the ability to sound rational even when he is sprouting bull****. Perhaps he should consider a political career.

DCE is good, but he's not that good. And the Manly Club is either sincere, or mealy-mouthed and gaslighting DCE. Depends who you choose to believe. While DCE sounds professional and expresses himself in a way that is superior to most NRL players and even NRL Media, his logic in this matter has serious flaws - I don't buy that he needed to extricate hinself from the club overall to make this decision. It doesn't impact his market value, and gives him a security blanket to take his time. So either the Manly Club was pressuring him to make a decision (which they seem to deny), or he has used non-existant pressure to make a call as an excuse to justify bailing on being a 1-player club legend, for reasons we don't fully undertand at this time. (but hey, Cooper Cronk might...)

(3) Media is trying to cash in

As this absolutely shi*ts on the normal 'coach under pressure after 3-rounds' crap they have to spin out of necessity due to lack of material.

Fox will milk this like the proverbial cow. Ryles/Payton/Woolfe must be thanking their lucky stars for DCE about now, deflecting heat on their winless starts to the season.

The headlines run by Newcorp should be treated as they deserve - utter contempt. The Manly Club substantially weakened their credibility by pitching a 2-yr offer on NRL-360 though. That was an incredibly bad move. I am embarrassed for the club over that given their explanations since then that an offer was contingent on another club making an offer. So is there an offer from another club? DCE seems coy and evasive on that front.

If Manly were - as they claim - on top of the negotiations with their captain then this shouldn't have been necessary. It should never have got to this. DCE himself claimed he had spoken to the club as far back as December and made up his mind on not being at Manly beyond 2025 - and relayed that to the club, who in turn didn't bother with an offer.

The 2-yr offer they hastily mashed together to give the impression of 'doig something' was clumsy and revealing - regardless of Mestrov's justification it looks desperate and impulsive. It burns the credibility that Manly are in control of this, and hands DCE the power to refuse - which he did - to a public forum. Well done Manly, you now look like a khorum of muppets. Whoever made that call at Manly Clubland? That was simply....Bad. It might actually be the most telling play in this saga actually, as it contradicts so much of Mestrov's diatribe about the collaborative position of club/player. It leads to an undenaible conclusion that DCE had an Axe to grind with the club, who had 'wronged him' somehow. Whether thats the lack of an offer or otherwise is a moot point. The damage is done.

The outcome is that either DCE was not clear in his intentions to the club - which reflects poorly on him - or that the club were not clear in their intentions to put down an offer of substance. This reflects poorly on the Club. The Club has more experience in this than DCE does - regardless of his history or personal gifts beyond the average NRL player. The club wears a lot more blame in failing to address this and pre-emptively damage-control the whole scenario. Now we see Mestrov out trying to mitigate the fallout (doing ok at it to be honest, but really - he sounds a tad disingenuous to me)

Neither party can come out of this clean frankly. If DCE decides to renege on his position and re-sign with Manly now, after what he has said on Fox, he will look like an opportunist. If Manly offer him a contract value well in excess of the NRL evaluation of $400k, they will look captive and weak in negotiation. It hurts all involved.

The most logical explanation is that DCE has already signed with another club, but is not yet ready to reveal it. This undermines my view of DCE as an intellgient operator - he will be a club legend if he sticks it out at Manly until retirement. Chasing 1-2 more seasons at $750k-$1mil max may give him a decent sugar hit, but beyond that he has limited his legacy. Its a weird move - unless he has a succession plan already in place with another club - eg Cronk and Rooters.

It will not surprise me to find out DCE is going to play 1-2 seasons at the Rooters, replacing Townsend at the end of 2025, partnering and mentoring Walker, and giving the Rooters an artificial boost to their credentials during an acknowledged 'rebuilding' phase. And in return, Uncle Nick's brown paper bag has a nice retirement plan mapped out for him in a way that the Manly Club never defined.

If that ends up being the case, then that is on the Club, not DCE. We can't expect every player to be wired like the Beaver, with an unassailable loyalty to the club - which is not really reciprocated (else they would have rectified the tragedy which denies Beaver his true tally of club games, on the technicality of the 'Northern Eagles' debacle). Let's see what DCE's next move is. And in the meantime, lets hope it doesn't de-rail a promising season, and that it galvanises the crew for a big season. After 2022 though, i'm not so confident of triumph in the face of advseristy with this mob.

Fantastic write up.
DCE has shown he has great qualities all be it inconsistently. He has made us cheer so many times.

Given all the selfish acts and issues he has had with staff and players , I feel that the club and team know this is good riddance.

I hope Brookes and the balance of the team can lift to make it a good season.

 

[XV-1]

Fu*k we're all going to be eating a massive serve of humble pie if he actually retires. 🤪

DCE can replace Seibold as coach next season. 😁

 

[Phobia]

He definitely sounded unhappy. He called him Cherry-Evans too, which is interesting. A good mate is Chez and a bad teammate is Cherry-Evans.

Remember when there was an apparent divide between DCE and the Trbojevics back after the pride jersey saga? I've long thought that there was more than smoke there. The Turbos very clearly like Seibold significantly, mainly because the four of them are a bunch of nerds, but I was always unsure about DCE, who came through that previous generation of coaching.

Also, there's a complete rewriting of history about that Souths game last year. In that point of time, Talau had actually been training in the halves for a longer period of time than Humphreys had. Humphreys had only just switched back to the halves, due to Wakeham's false charges, and the Jarthur injury. Talau himself has admitted that he was the half backup for many weeks before that game, long before Souths signed Humphreys.

Many people on here, but particularly, outside of here, love to **** on the club, and they see the Humphreys story as a very easy one to manipulate against the club. Facts have no cause to them, because many of these individuals hate Manly. Then they convince Manly fans that the club were the stupid ones, and that DCE was actually loyal, that there must be bad blood, and DCE slept with Seibold's wife... Etc.

It's a short career, and if DCE can set a standard as the RLPA president for what the next half his age, with his longevity should be paid, he'll happily do it. Better look on the resume in the long term. Stands up for his principles as the RLPA leader. Not for loyalty to employers in a cut-throat sport, but instead, the extraction of as much as you can out of a short career. I don't blame DCE as many of you do for going after the money. It's a short and punishing career, with long-term risks. Ask Wally Lewis.

Manly undoubtedly could not keep both Hopoate and DCE. That's how I'm seeing it now. One, or the other. It might be why it took so long for Hoppa to be upgraded.

If that's not the case, we would've had to release someone else. Koula to the Dragons would be my bet. Flanno is a big fan of Koula.

I've been bitter to start off with, but cooled down slightly. DCE may just be an idiot here in all honesty. The truth lies somewhere in-between, and every single person has a different story. I don't think we will know what has truly happened for some time.

Pump Foz 3.0 mentoring Walsh and Large into my veins please, thanks.

 

[ALinda]

What I know is this.

Our longest term player , and club captain, knowingly went on TV and basically trashed the club without any thought for the club or the fans.

In my opinion , unforgivable!!

Regardless ( absolutely regardless ) of what happened behind closed doors , we the fans , from a 15 year veteran ( and club captain ) deserved a dignified announcement.

We didn’t get it , so **** him!!

I’ll cheer the team for the rest of the year but I’m cheering the players who respect the club , not some twat who is only there there for the $$$$

Spot on, and my thoughts exactly!

Even if in hindsight he regretted what he said (which I doubt), he could've since had a presser and addressed the members and fans, wearing Manly gear. But no, nothing, which just makes it worse.

And to think there I was on Saturday after the captain's run wishing him good luck and getting him to sign my team poster, and 2 days later he does this. Feeling quite aggrieved.

The 15 year veteran and club captain has dissed the club, members and fans, but also I imagine the sponsors aren't impressed with him either.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

We have at least one spoon without him I reckon…

I'm the first to admit he's had some shockers but overall DCE has been amazing for this club. He's missed what? 24 games in 13 seasons? The club has cocked this one up big time.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Spot on, and my thoughts exactly!

Even if in hindsight he regretted what he said (which I doubt), he could've since had a presser and addressed the members and fans, wearing Manly gear. But no, nothing, which just makes it worse.

And to think there I was on Saturday after the captain's run wishing him good luck and getting him to sign my team poster, and 2 days later he does this. Feeling quite aggrieved.

The 15 year veteran and club captain has dissed the club, members and fans, but also I imagine the sponsors aren't impressed with him either.

Why feel aggrived?

The guy has given his absolute all for this club and in turn they have paid him very well.

It's a 2 way street. We as a club let our club captain fatty Vautin go when he'd run his time. Des hasler was a great player that was also shipped out. Beaver was sent packing to the UK when he still had a season in him. All because the club had better options.

If DCE was starting to fail and getting injured all the time the club would be happy to ship him off.

Are we angry because he's still very good and he's going? Can be the only reason because if he was **** everyone on here would be commending the club for making the hard decision. Goes both ways.

The reason we are angry is he might go to the roosters and possibly win a premiership. If he comes out and retires then he's a hero again.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

Yep, probably the Trent Barrett years
Don’t get me wrong I think we were lucky to have him too but I just think there has been a major overreaction to how all the media feel about him suddenly.
No one even spoke about manly before
And no one gave him as much credit as I thought he deserved
At the same time, he’s been very inconsistent and quite erratic in defence
This is absolute hype. And it’s getting annoying. Coming from a true Chez fan

It's all because he might go to another side that can win a premiership.
Mark my words. If he ends up at Redcliffe or the UK superleague then a lot of this hate goes away. And if he ends up retired then there's no hate at all.

 

[KaZa]

Never liked the guy nor his ability. The way he plays footy is the way he is off it. It's his brand. He plays off the cuff footy and does things to make DCE look good. Doesn't control the game. Kick to corners.. etc he goes for a chip kick for himself when it's not on.

He said he made this decision because of the media attention from d his contract? Doesnt want to distract the team with his contract dragging on. Laughable. There was one article. Most people assumed he'd stay at Manly. Not enough interest in the DCE brand. He's driving up his price.. bidding wars.. just like he did 10 years ago. Look what hes created now. Proper media frenzy every week now until he signs. This is distracting for your team mates. He doesnt care. He's looking after brand DCE. That's all well and good but done lie and say otherwise. Hes full of ****.. like he was years ago. Thankfully he only had one contract to deal with in the last 10 years. He will end up at roosters who will give him a tv deal. No way he hasn't signed something already.. if he gets injured.. nobody will touch him.. big risk.

I cant wait to see the back of him. Yes I'm well aware I'm in the minority.. but glad some of yall have seen the light. There was a reason why real manly legends didn't like him.. Cam Smith Slater etc...

Hes proper damaged the Manly brand he supposedly loves. Again. Please...