With Daly Cherry-Evans to fly the Brookvale nest at the end of this NRL season, Manly are left to scramble to secure the services of their other off-contract playmaker Kieran Foran.
Cherry-Evans announced to his Sea Eagles teammates he had taken up a four-year $4 million offer to join Gold Coast, minutes after Manly’s 42-12 first-round loss on Friday night to Parramatta.
Foran has been linked to Parramatta and Canterbury and will make a decision on where he will be in 2016 in the next fortnight.
“I am still undecided on my future. Hopefully, I will come to a decision in the next week or two,” Foran said.
“I am still working through the process.
“Obviously, it was a tough decision for Daly and I know he is looking forward to getting on with the year and playing some good football.
“Everyone was a bit down after the performance and it is always hard to hear that from your No.7, a quality bloke like Daly and someone we really value in the team.
“We were all hopeful he was going to stay but he has to do what is best for him and his family.”
Foran said the constant speculation over his and DCE’s future didn’t have a bearing on Manly’s big first-up loss.
“No, it didn’t,” he said.
“We are all professionals. Everyone knows that is the kind of stuff we deal with outside of football hours.
“We had a really good week training, everyone really knuckled down and prepared well, but we just didn’t come out in the second half and the rest is history.”
To make matters worse, Foran hobbled off with a hamstring strain in the 65th minute and is a 50/50 proposition for Manly’s round-two fixture against Melbourne next Saturday at Brookvale Oval.
“Hopefully, it’s not too bad,” Foran said.
It is bad news for young Manly three-quarter Clinton Gutherson who will miss the rest of the NRL season due to an ACL tear sustained in the loss to Parramatta.
Sea Eagles captain Jamie Lyon is also in doubt as he struggles with an ongoing knee problem.
However, Manly might welcome back Steve Matai (shoulder) and Jorge Taufua (knee) from the sidelines.
