Chief executive Joe Kelly says Manly will offer halves pairing Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans the biggest contracts in the NRL club’s history as the battle to keep the Test stars hots up
Cherry-Evans and Foran are the biggest names who’ll be off-contract at the end 2015 and clubs including Canterbury, Parramatta, Canberra and Brisbane are ready to test the water with the pair’s respective management teams.
Kelly started work on Monday after finishing his role as chief financial officer for South Sydney, who he joined from English Premier League giants Chelsea in 2007.
He has already hit the ground running by drawing up agreements he hopes will keep Cherry-Evans and Foran with the Sea Eagles for the rest of their careers.
Kelly spent five years at Chelsea and was integral in keeping the Blues from brink of insolvency by persuading Roman Ambramovich to pump his billions into the club and make it one of the biggest in the world.
Although the figures being offered to Cherry-Evans and Foran are chicken feed in comparison to what was required to prop up Chelsea, Kelly said the challenge of keeping them is just as great.
“We want to retain them; it’s our absolute No.1 priority,” Kelly told AAP.
“They are both back to training by the start of the new year and I hope to have it sorted by then so that as a club we are sorted and settled for the 2015 season.
“I’ve already done a lot of work on this dollars-wise and we’ll be putting to them the best offers we’ve ever made to any player before.”
The departures of big earners such as Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart has freed up the cash that will fund deals for Foran and Cherry-Evans, and teammate Jamie Buhrer is hopeful they’ll stay.
“I know they love the area and playing alongside each other. But at the same time, I respect whatever decision they make and they’ll be no pressure from me,” Buhrer said.
“But to have them two both re-sign would be monumental for the club. It’s hard to find a young halves pairing that are as good as they are. They have won comps, played Tests.
“It’s a no-brainer that we have to do all we can to keep them.”
