Jamal Fogarty quits Canberra Raiders to sign three-year deal with Manly Sea Eagles

Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty has officially quit the club ahead of an impending move away from the nation’s capital, with the star set to sign a big-money deal at the Sea Eagles.

Jamal Fogarty has officially quit the Canberra Raiders. Picture: NRL Photos

Jamal Fogarty walked into Raiders coach Ricky Stuart’s office in Canberra on Tuesday morning to reveal a decision which he has agonised over for weeks.

That he was leaving the Canberra Raiders.

While an official announcement hasn’t been made, Fogarty has agreed to move to Manly on a three-year, $2 million deal to replace Daly Cherry-Evans.

Stuart accepted the news and vowed that Fogarty would remain an integral part of the club’s premiership charge this year.

The half-back’s preference was to remain in Canberra but, at 31, the security of a three-year deal was too great to turn down.

Raiders star Jamal Fogarty has agreed to a move to the Manly Sea Eagles. Picture: NRL Photos

Fogarty is on an estimated $650,000 this season and while the Raiders had an option they could have activated before round 6, the Green Machine opted against taking up the 12-month extension.

Once they didn’t activate that clause, it allowed Manly the opportunity to swoop in with an initial two-year offer, before extending it to three.

Canberra had tabled their own two-year deal, but had resisted going to a third year, wary of not wanting to block the progression of talented young halves Ethan Sanders, 21, and Ethan Strange, 20.

They would like to have kept Fogarty, both to help develop the pair, but also to continue building on the success that has the Raiders’ in third position on the NRL ladder after eight rounds.

Former Parramatta youngster Ethan Sanders has made a big impression in Canberra. Picture: Raiders Instagram

Five-eighth Strange has partnered Fogarty in all eight games this season, while Sanders played three games in NSW Cup for the Raiders but has been sidelined since breaking his cheekbone.

Next year, they will be tasked with leading the Raiders without Fogarty, who will instead switch to Manly, where he will form a halves combination with Luke Brooks.

Fogarty’s arrival will, however, also create a potential logjam issue for the Sea Eagles, who have two of their own bright young halves talents coming through their system.

Former rugby schoolboys star Joey Walsh, 18, is a local junior signed until the end of 2027, who has been earmarked as a potential long-term successor for Cherry-Evans.

Also on their books is Onitoni Large, 17, a talented half from the Wests Tigers who joined Manly this season and is viewed as a future NRL player.

However, the pair are younger than Strange and Sanders, giving the Sea Eagles the flexibility to offer Fogarty the three-year deal which, by the time it expires at the end of 2028, Walsh and Large could be ready to step in and assume first-grade duties for Manly.

The final domino in this scenario is Cherry-Evans, whose decision to quit the Sea Eagles at the end of this season rocked the NRL, however talk of his playing future has been eerily quiet since, outside of revelations he will make himself available for Queensland Origin next month, and potentially next year.

Originally published as Jamal Fogarty quits Canberra Raiders to sign three-year deal with Manly Sea Eagles