Regular readers of this column will know Daly Cherry-Evans and I are never likely to go on holidays together or sit down over a few Spuddwisers at our local.
I was not backwards in coming forwards last year when I called him out for leaving Manly in the shit by announcing he would not be playing for them in 2026.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the saga dragged on all year as DCE refused to say whether he was going to play on and, if so, who with.
Sign up to The Nightly’s newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
I accused him of being selfish and ruining the Sea Eagles’ season.
You may remember it resulted in us having a spat in the Manly dressing-room after he told me he wasn’t impressed by what I wrote.
“At least you’re reading my stuff and I don’t back away from what I wrote,” I replied as we locked horns.
“You’re a legend of this club and played for your State and country and I thought it would be nice if you put all your energy into helping Manly make the eight.
“Instead, you come across as trying to be some sort of superhero and I feel your decision derailed the season.”
We left it at that and haven’t spoken since.
I don’t back down on any of it but I will concede this much: DCE’s move to the Roosters has been a winner for player and club.
The Chooks’ demolition job on North Queensland only strengthened my belief that they can go all the way this year.
I think Cherry-Evans knew that when he jumped ship at Brookvale.
He would have looked at both rosters and thought the Sea Eagles are a long way off winning a title anytime soon while the Roosters were a ready-made premiership force.
That have brilliance across the park, from James Tedesco at the back, the miracle man Mark Nawaqanitawase on the wing, through to Sam Walker in the halves and tough hombres Lindsay Collins, Naufahu White and mad-as-a-cut-snake Spencer Leniu up front.
And then there’s DCE — at 37 and with 370 premierships games under his belt — oiling the machine without overplaying his hand.
He has the rare ability to pull off a 40-20 or kick a field goal in clutch moments while also controlling the tempo of the game when not a lot is doing.
Pulling teams apart by asking them a lot of questions has been his calling card for a long time.
Now he’s got quality players around him to help.
Manly’s loss has been the Roosters’ gain.
And as a result, Cherry-Evans now has the chance to nail his very own Cooper Cronk moment by winning another premiership at a second club in the twilight of his career.
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED
South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett certainly put a rabbit among the pigeons when he ripped into the NRL for allowing the PNG Chiefs to recruit players on tax-fee dollars.
The master coach says it’s ruined what the salary cap set out to achieve — to make it a level playing field across the entire competition — and he made some very valid points to back it up.
But my concerns with the Chiefs are not so much the amount of cash they are splashing around but who they are splashing it on.
I’m not here to debate the ability of Zac Lomax and Jarome Luai as footballers.
They are world-class players who will help you win games of football.
But I wonder whether they possess the right characteristics when you are building a club — and a culture — from scratch.
The circus around Luai has set Wests Tigers back years.
The four-time premiership winner said he was all-in with what Benji Marshall is trying to build at Concord but will only see out two years of an original five-year deal.
Yes, I know the Tigers opened the door to an early release but what were they supposed to do when their marquee player basically said I see no future here?
It’s like getting married and telling your partner you’d like to review the relationship a couple of years into things.
I don’t begrudge the big dollars Luai will receive at the Chiefs because it’s life-changing money, especially when your government’s not getting its paws on half of it.
But I just wonder how he goes about preaching loyalty and being in something for the long haul when he’s been at four clubs in as many years.
Does this bloke ever see out a deal?
First, he kissed goodbye to the Dragons before coming and going at Parramatta within 12 months.
Then he bobbed up in rugby union where he hopes to represent the Wallabies at next year’s World Cup.
The ink had barely dried on his Rugby Australia contract when it emerged rugby would just be a brief stopover before he returns to rugby league with the Chiefs in 2028.
I hope Lomax is a renter and not a buyer because he rarely has time to unpack his boxes before moving on.
I will be fascinated to watch the Luai-Lomax story play out over the next few years.
