Manly duo Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran launched the new NRL season on Wednesday and vowed to help the Sea Eagles to become the first team to go back-to-back in a united competition in nearly 20 years.
The young halves, whose outstanding displays last season were integral to their side’s success, were unveiled as the faces of the game in 2012 at the new Rugby League Central headquarters in Sydney.
Brisbane were the last club to win back-to-back competitions in 1992-93 (followed by Super League titles in 1997-98), and Foran is confident Manly can follow in their footsteps despite the recent upheaval at the club following Des Hasler’s bitter switch to Canterbury just weeks after the grand final.
Doubts have subsequently been cast about whether the Sea Eagles can match last season’s success, but Foran says the fact none of the club’s star players has departed gives them the confidence to succeed.
“We’ve got a very similar squad to last year and we are quietly confident that by building on our combinations and keeping our heads down, we can be successful again,” Foran said.
“We know we have a good side as we showed last year and hopefully we can go back-to-back.”
Cherry-Evans said he was not daunted by being the face of the competition and said he understood the importance it carried.
“It’s an honour to be here and representing all the players in the NRL,” said Cherry-Evans.
“It’s exciting to be here with Kieran, my halves partner, and hopefully we can do the role justice.”
The launch took place just hours after the new ARL Commission announced the scrapping of the controversial McIntyre system for this year’s finals.
In the first act of the commission, it was decided the finals format will change from the system which has been part of the premiership since 1999.
The competition will split the top four and the bottom four finalists into separate pools in week one.
Under the McIntyre system, the eight finalists were seeded so that the top four played the bottom four.
With the new format, each of the top-four teams needs to win two finals matches to reach the grand final, while the bottom four-ranked teams must win three.
The minor premiers and second-placed team are each guaranteed two home games.
Commission chief executive David Gallop said the ruling was taken after consultation with the clubs and was delighted with the outcome.
“It’s a good system, it protects the top-four teams and was very well received by the teams today,” Gallop said.
“We polled the clubs last year and most wanted to see it changed and I think it will be good for the game.”