Manly assistant coach Andrew Johns (C) talks to Kieran Foran (R) and Liam Foran (L) during training. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Sunday Telegraph
WHEN it comes to champion halfbacks, no club boasts a fist full of aces quite like the Manly Sea Eagles.
The full-time, exclusive arrival of halfback of the century Andrew Johns to the coaching staff means the 2011 premiers have the NRL's most decorated brains trust when it comes to playmakers.
Between head coach Geoff Toovey, NSW Origin legend Johns and the pairing of Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, Manly are again well positioned for a tilt at the title.
And as the old rugby league adage goes, you can't win a premiership without a champion no.7. In Cherry-Evans, the Sea Eagles continue to develop one of the NRL's finest.
After a breakout rookie season including winning selection as the bolter of the Four Nations tour of the UK for the Kangaroos, Cherry-Evans circumnavigated the curse of second year syndrome last year. Now, as he prepares for his third season in the NRL, the Sea Eagles halfback plans to take on more of an on-field leadership role at Manly.
"I'm hoping to grow as a player and take on more of a leadership role within the side," Cherry-Evans said.
"Personally I expect a lot of myself and hopefully the boys are also expecting a lot out of me in terms of leadership and on-field direction.
"Not so much necessarily in terms of doing more with the ball, but being able to tell the team what to do in certain situations.
"I was happy with last year in terms of learning how to adapt. I may not have set the world alight as I did in my first year when everything seemed to fall into place but I think last year was still a good year.
Daly Cherry-Evans in action during a Manly training session. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Sunday Telegraph
"Hopefully I'm building towards another big year."
Regarded as the best emerging halves combination in the game, perhaps the greatest strength of Cherry-Evans and Foran is a maturity well beyond their years.
At 23 and 22 respectively and already boasting a collective 133 games, the pair is constantly looking at ways to learn to better read the game.
Enter champion Newcastle halfback Johns.
"I think the benefits of having Joey on board are showing for everyone in the squad, not just myself as a half," Cherry-Evans said.
"Everybody seems to be getting a lot out of Joey and we're very privileged to have him on our coaching staff.
"Kieran and I were speaking last year and we felt if Joey did want to be a part of just the one club then Manly had to be that club.
"It's a credit to the club that they worked so hard to get him on board."
Perhaps the only black mark on Manly's season last year was their September capitulation against eventual premiers Storm in Melbourne.
"To be honest, we did talk about it last year when it happened and some of the boys have been pretty clear on the fact we didn't have any answers for that night," Cherry-Evans said.
"We were outplayed and we didn't help that cause by the style of footy we played.
"I'm sure if the circumstances come around again, which hopefully they do, we'll be in a position to better acquit ourselves. You can't expect to play horrible football and not get put away by a good side. "
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