With Daly Cherry-Evans saying goodbye to Brookvale, Raiders recruit Jamal Fogarty has big boots to fill.

FOR A decade and a half, Daly Cherry-Evans was a permanent fixture in Manly’s number seven jumper.

But in 2026, the Brookvale faithful will have to get used to a new halfback pulling the strings. 

With Cherry-Evans heading to the Sydney Roosters after 352 games in maroon and white, Jamal Fogarty will assume the Sea Eagles’ playmaking reins. 

Despite losing that wealth of experience, Manly fans are pretty positive about their replacement. 

Fogarty moves to Sydney’s northern beaches on the back of an impressive 2025 campaign, leading the Canberra Raiders to the minor premiership. 

The experienced half posted 23 try assists (equal third in the NRL), 192 points (also equal third) and 11,723 kicking metres (second) as the Green Machine finished two wins clear of the chasing pack. 

He formed a potent yin-yang scrum-base partnership with rookie stand-off Ethan Strange, 11 years his junior. 

But with the Raiders unable to match the money or length of term the Eagles were offering, Fogarty penned his move to Manly for three years from 2026. 

The Silvertails were in the market for a new halfback because of another contract drama involving Cherry-Evans. 

Club and captain engaged in an unseemly back-and-forth through the media last March, debating whether Cherry-Evans had an extension on the table … and whether the skipper wanted to stay. 

In the end, the long-term scrum-half decided to announce his departure in March. 

The parochial Brookvale support were accepting, acknowledging their captain’s long service as well as the club’s need for some new blood. 

But it did condemn the Sea Eagles to a year of treading water in mid-table. 

Anthony Seibold’s side tallied 12 wins and 12 losses to finish 10th, a win and points differential outside the top eight. 

For a club accustomed to contending for silverware, another middling campaign places Seibold under huge pressure as he enters his fourth season at the helm. 

The spotlight will burn brightly on Thursday, 26th March, when Cherry-Evans returns to his former home to tackle his old team-mates in a round four grudge match. 

Silvertails supporters will do a double-take with a new face in the number seven jersey. 

So who is Jamal Fogarty? 

Born in Beaudesert, just inland from the Gold Coast, Fogarty cut his teeth in the Titans’ junior system. 

He completed his schooling at Palm Beach Currumbin — a renowned production line of sporting stars that’s given rugby league Jahrome Hughes, Darius Boyd, Ben Ikin, Jordan Rapana and countless more NRL aces. 

And like so many other Palm Beach Currumbin products, he represented the Australian Schoolboys in 2011. 

But he had to bide his time before making the grade. 

After graduating from the Titans’ under-20s side, Fogarty cemented himself as a Queensland Cup player — originally at fullback for the Tweed Heads Seagulls. 

But he blossomed at halfback for Burleigh in 2016, captaining the Bears to a Grand Final triumph over Redcliffe. 

That campaign caught the eye of NRL scouts, and Fogarty landed a one-year deal with Parramatta. 

Although the move to Sydney didn’t pan out and he found himself back on the Gold Coast, where he made his NRL debut in 2017. 

A permanent first-grade spot would have to wait though. Back at Burleigh, Fogarty collected another Queensland Cup title. 

By 2020, now aged 26, Fogarty was more than ready to take the step up to first grade. 

While Covid caused carnage across the competition, Fogarty made the Titans’ number seven jersey his own, and even ascended to the captaincy in Kevin Proctor’s absence late in the campaign. 

The following season, the ‘C’ sat beside Fogarty’s name permanently. 

But despite guiding the Gold Coast to their first finals appearance in five years, Fogarty fell out of favour. 

When it became clear ex-St Helens coach Justin Holbrook would give Toby Sexton the seven in 2022, Fogarty took his skills to Canberra. 

A knee injury delayed his debut in lime green before he piloted the Raiders into the play-offs in his first two seasons there. 

Fogarty’s best year in the Australian capital came in 2025, as Ricky Stuart’s men claimed the minor premiership thanks in no small part to Fogarty’s now-seasoned game management. 

But approaching his 32nd birthday and needing to maximise his remaining time in the NRL, Fogarty couldn’t turn down the move to Manly. 

The late bloomer is the kind of smart, organised and skilful little general that has become rare in the NRL in this era of raw athletes. 

In other words, an ideal replacement for Cherry-Evans. 

DCE made a huge contribution to the Sea Eagles over 15 years, but this swap feels like a win-win-win for both players and the club. 

Fogarty gets a better payday, Cherry-Evans extends his career at a club that can genuinely content for silverware, and Manly receive some fresh blood that doesn’t drastically downgrade their playmaking stocks. 

The fact the parochial Brookvale crowd aren’t burning down the grandstands after losing their long-time skipper is a mark of Fogarty’s quality. 

The new half’s success will depend on two things. 

The first — like all playmakers — is the foundation his forwards can lay. And Manly are fairly strong in the big-man stocks, led by veteran Jake Trbojevic and Tonga internationals Haumole Olakau’atu and Taniela Paseka, who are both back from long-term injuries. 

The second is the fitness of new captain Tom Trbojevic, whose body continues to curtail his form. 

At his best, Tommy Turbo is perhaps the comp’s greatest strike weapon. But injury has limited him to just 93 games from 171 possible outings — a mere 54 percent — since 2019. 

Over that period, the Eagles won 62 percent of games with Trbojevic on the park. Without him, that dips to 35 percent. You don’t need to be a statistician to see how important that makes him. 

In 2026, Manly are celebrating their 80th season since joining the premiership in 1947. 

They’ve won a swag of silverware since the 1970s, the modern iteration is hardly a picture of stability. 

Seibold is a coach under the pump. Tom Trbojevic is out of contract at season’s end and prolific point-scorer Reuben Garrick has already committed to the Roosters from 2027. Former player Jason King has a big job on his plate as incoming CEO. 

On the park, though, they appear in safe hands with Fogarty. 

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 516 (January 2026)