DCE v Manly is the NRL at its sexiest. But it’s not why Roosters, Eagles are hot and bothered
Daly Cherry-Evans’ return to Brookvale Oval brings rugby league’s sexiest subject to the fore: contracts, recruitment, retention, roster management, cold hard cash.
Even a year on from Cherry-Evans announcing his Manly exit on one NRL broadcaster – with an extension offered minutes later on the other host broadcaster – the waters are still muddy around exactly how the Sea Eagles lost their most decorated player.
It doesn’t matter. Far more pressing is when, where and why Manly haven’t already signed quality middles to reinforce a battling forward pack (albeit after chasing Broncos-bound veteran Mitchell Barnett in a player market short on props).
Jake Trbojevic’s future is one thing. But Luke Brooks’ form on roughly $700,000 a year is looming large as another.
For the Roosters, slow starts are nothing new. Sam Walker and James Tedesco have this week noted the Tricolours near-annual stumbling out the blocks after a summer of headlines about their recruitment, retention and roster management.
The difference in 2026 is the marquee signing of Cherry-Evans, with obvious parallels to when Tedesco and Cooper Cronk arrived in 2018.
Asked about his first campaign as a Rooster after skipping across town from the Tigers, Tedesco recalled a shock 10-8 loss to his old side at Allianz Stadium and a pretty miserable first game in red, white and blue.
“I was getting booed every time I touched the ball,” the Roosters skipper said. “I dropped the ball to lose the game … I had a lot of haters after that game. But it ended up pretty well that year, so I can’t complain.”
Tedesco also acknowledged how in 2018 “we had four losses, four wins and a lot of us, including me, were panicking a bit, [saying] ‘what’s going wrong?’”
Just as Cronk, Tedesco and a side laden with talent – much like this year’s vintage with a dozen Origin or tier one Test players – eventually worked things out, the Roosters attack should click into gear at some point.
Three games in March do not make a premiership-winning halves combination.
For the Sea Eagles and Roosters, how their salary cap is spent makes for sexy headlines. But it’s the unsexy rugby league nuts and bolts that matter right now.
Manly have had a bye week and 11 days to stew on the dismal 36-16 loss to Newcastle that drew boos and an early exit from the Brookvale crowd in round two.
The sight of Reuben Garrick making a long break against the Knights, yet inexplicably playing the ball with no one following up for dummy half duties, was Manly’s most galling mistake, just shading Brooks’ failed kick-off reception and numerous fumbles in their own territory.
Lehi Hopoate and Taniela Paseka said the right things about “being disappointed in our effort areas” this week, but Sea Eagles fans have heard that and seen otherwise all too often.
Anthony Seibold is, as he pointed out on Thursday, “two games into a two-year extension”, yet pressure continues to mount on the Manly coach.
Tedesco meanwhile, not for the first time, did not miss in assessing his own side’s commitment to rugby league’s basics.
As fullback and defensive coordinator, his frustration at conceding 42 points to the Warriors and 40 against Penrith two weeks later is clear.
Not so much though it seems, in the lack of cohesion between Cherry-Evans and his new teammates on the right edge – which has leaked 10 tries in three games.
“I definitely think our hunger and our effort for each other, to play for each other and save tries, is something that we’ve talked about,” Tedesco said.
“It’s probably a combination of both [structure and attitude issues], but I definitely think our attitude to saving tries and to doing whatever it takes to stop them is an improvement area.”
The last time Tedesco was so publicly unimpressed with his side’s commitment was in mid-2023 when he described the Roosters support play and “our effort areas around the ball is as low as I’ve seen”.
After misfiring for months with an attack that ranked 16th until well into the season, the Tricolours found their mojo and averaged 27 points a game from July onwards.
The point is, with all the talent at the Roosters and Manly, the sexy stuff will sort itself out. It’s the basics that matter most right now.
Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.