In fact, I think most of you are questioning the wrong people. From where I sit, it's not DCE who backflipped here. It was the Manly club that backflipped. DCE eventually signed with the club he wanted to play with all along. If he didn't really want to stay at Manly, why would he even contemplate subjecting himself to the public abuse he knew he'd receive once he turned his back on the Gold Coast contract? DCE is a Manly player, he made his NRL debut for Manly, he represented Queensland and Australia thanks to Manly; at the end of the day, it's probably right that he should remain playing for Manly. In fact, I don't think DCE ever really wanted to play for anyone else. Instead of hurling abuse in the direction of DCE over his supposed backflip, perhaps you should be questioning how it came to be that the Manly club has ended up having to offer a record eight-year, $10m contract to keep one of their brightest young stars, when the kid always wanted to stay at the club in the first place? Remember this: Cherry-Evans agreed to terms on a new four-year contract with the previous Manly management in August, for an amount of money much less than the new record deal he just signed.

Before a contract could be presented for signing, the management and ownership structure at the Sea Eagles changed. First order of business for the new regime was to decide not to recognise the deal DCE had negotiated with the previous bosses. They instead offered him a different deal, for an amount significantly less than the one to which DCE originally agreed. Now, please hold onto that thought for a moment, because if the revised offer last October was significantly less than the deal DCE agreed to in August, then it's in a different stratosphere to the deal this same management and ownership have now thrown at him to convince him to stay. DCE was disappointed at this bizarre change of events, however, he wanted to remain at Manly and his management entered into a new and lengthy negotiation process. This negotiation ends earlier this year when Manly again pulled the offer off the table. Why did they pull this offer off the table? Because they had decided they would throw all available resources at keeping DCE's fellow playmaker Kieran Foran. Why? Hmmm ... For the answer to that question you probably need to interview a number of people. Anyway... At this point DCE is now left with only one real alternative, that being a sizeable offer to join the Gold Coast Titans. Reports that DCE had also received an offer from the Cronulla Sharks are somewhat inaccurate because, for whatever the reason, the Sharks never at anytime tabled their offer in writing, despite several requests to do so. Gold Coast was the only "hard-copy" offer on the table.

It's a big decision for DCE to move from Manly to the Gold Coast. He has to relocate himself and his family. It's not like signing with Parramatta where he could've just car-pooled from the northern beaches to the golden west of Sydney with teammates Anthony Watmough and Foran. But as this is the only creditable offer available, DCE signed with the Titans. It's also a big deal for the Gold Coast. It's a massive amount of money to be paying one player, however, DCE is seen as a marquee signing who can win games on the field and hopefully lift the club's profile off the field by capturing the hearts and minds of the locals. But, it's still not a deal just yet. All clubs know that when you sign a player for the following season, prior to round 13 of the current season, you cannot register that contract until after round 13. Why? I don't know. It's just another of those knee-jerk, policy-on-the-run, over-reactive, poorly constructed rules, synonymous with the type of haphazard policy implementation of the former NRL management. Instead of bagging DCE, you should be questioning the fact the round 13 backflip rule even exists. What a stupid rule! The fact that current NRL management hasn't bothered to address this ridiculous situation despite the numerous instances in previous years of players doing backflips is another matter.

The round 13 rule is in place and we are all aware of the rule. In effect, your contract with the player means nothing until such times as the contract is recognised and registered by the NRL. Actually, that would make for an interesting legal debate. Imagine you and I enter into a legally binding contract. However, its validity depends on whether the contract will be recognised by a third person, who themselves are not party to this contract? If Gold Coast and Manly presented their contracts to a magistrate in the court of law, I wonder which contract would be upheld. Interesting. Anyway, I digress. The Gold Coast knew this could happen. They are big boys and they've taken it on the chin. All credit to them. They have carried themselves with great dignity. It's not the end of the world. They will survive. Meanwhile, back on the northern beaches, Manly's management now turned all attention to retaining Foran. Unfortunately for Manly, Foran's heart now belongs to another and he accepts a contract offer with the Parramatta Eels to play under former coach Brad Arthur. OK. Now Manly has a problem. They've lost their two outstanding young playmakers. Their other star players are approaching midnight so far as their careers are concerned. Club depth is poor. Little or no future planning has existed for some time. What do they do?

Enter Bob Fulton. Bozo is recruited to fix the mess. He is a winner. He is a leader. He makes decisions and makes things happen. Bob decides they need to rebuild the club around their best young player, who just so happens to be DCE, the kid who just signed with the Gold Coast. Remember too that Manly has already pulled two offers off the table in previous negotiations and there were those within the club who had gone out of their way to make DCE feel very unwelcome. To Bob, that's not a problem, just a challenge. The solution? Communicate with DCE and treat him with the respect he deserves. Two years ago Manly should've seen the writing on the wall. The club had enjoyed a remarkable run of success and one of the best eras in the club's history. But nothing lasts forever. Success had increased player values and it was stretching their salary cap to the limit. They should've bitten the bullet and pulled in their older players and said "Guys, it's been great. We love you and will love you forever, you will all be in our Hall of Fame one day, but for now we need you to move on and get yourselves some big contracts somewhere else. We need to start building our next great footy team".

They should then have brought in DCE and Foran and said "you guys are our future. We are going to build our club around you two. You have learned your football under our great senior players. Now it's time for you two guys to educate the next generation. Here's a nice five year deal each. Let's get cracking". Job done. Yes I know it's hard for clubs to take such hardline strategic measures. Emotion gets the better of everyone. The fans fall in love with their favourite players. The media criticises what it doesn't understand. Who needs the angst, right? The result though is that they lost Foran, nearly lost DCE, and the development of their team has been on hold for two seasons. Manly now sits last on the premiership ladder and have a real mountain to climb. It's the Manly club that needs to learn from this experience. They could've had both kids locked up long ago, for long term, for a fraction of the cost. As for DCE? Well, Get off his back. It's just business baby.

Think about it. Last October Manly reneged on a four-year contract. Earlier this year, they pulled another contract offer off the table, virtually forcing to leave the club. Now DCE has himself a new eight-year contract at significantly more money. Boy, he really got them down on one knee, didn't he? Congratulations young man. May they all live together happily ever after. Well, for the next eight years anyway.