Weekend Read: The ‘football whisperer’ behind Daly Cherry-Evans’ Manly departure

Better known as the ‘football whisperer’, Joe Wehbe wields power in the lives of the NRL’s elite – including Daly Cherry-Evans. BRENT READ delves into his influence over rugby league and some of the biggest contract decisions in the game.

The most influential person in rugby league over the past week has been a bloke barely anyone would recognise. A bloke whose methods have divided opinion and led to him being mocked in some quarters and deified in others.

Joe Wehbe’s loyalists believe he is a modern day maharishi who allows them to play their best football by clearing their mind and helping them take care of their financial affairs.

Those who worship at the altar of Wehbe – better known by his alter ego ‘the football whisperer’ – swear by him and his methods, which can range from the banal to the bizarre.

His enemies believe he is more akin to a rugby league svengali, who casts a spell that lures you in and leaves you excessively reliant on him to play your best football.

The ‘football whisperer’ Joe Wehbe has been around rugby league for a long time. Picture: Peter Wallis

Sydney Roosters captain James Tedesco swears by Wehbe to the point that he became his first client when he started a player management company, Ignite Sports.

Tedesco remains a client to this day. A few years back, when he confirmed plans to join Wehbe’s clientele, Tedesco revealed that Wehbe helped him mentally overcome the injuries that hampered the early stages of his career.

If he went a few weeks without speaking to Wehbe, Tedesco conceded he felt lost. Plenty of other footballers have fallen under his spell over the years. Think Mitchell Moses, Tom Trbojevic, Israel Folau, Nathan Brown and … Daly Cherry-Evans.

Some have stayed, others have run a mile. When the Tigers were scrambling to keep Moses, Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Luke Brooks more than a decade ago, they started talks with Wehbe with a view to bringing him to the club.

The belief was that his arrival would mean that all four committed their futures to the club. The Tigers couldn’t get a deal done and Tedesco, Woods and Moses all headed for the exit door – only Brooks remained.

Exactly how Wehbe came to be involved in rugby league has never truly been documented. The best anyone can tell is that he was an associate of player agent Issac Moses more than a decade ago and that friendship led to him being enlisted by former New Zealand national coach Steve Kearney to be their performance guru when he was in charge of the Kiwis.

Kearney then had Wehbe talk to his players when he was the head coach Parramatta in 2012. A few years later, he appeared at the Broncos when Kearney was on the staff under Wayne Bennett.

The Broncos were battling and Wehbe was brought in to help them fix their defensive woes. They made the finals but their season fizzled out before the big dance.

Wehbe’s methods have raised eyebrows over the years. He has told his players to run through the trees with blindfolds on. He has advised them to close their eyes and imagine they are kids again, running unfettered on the football field.

Other times, he is alleged to have taken groups of players for training sessions without their club’s knowledge. He has made believers out of some and cynics out of others. The believers shower him in praise, the cynics mock him behind his back.

His loyalists don’t just receive advice about football. Wehbe is also a property developer and he is not averse to steering his clients into property, often involving his own company Blue Sox Developments.

Three years ago it was reported that Cherry-Evans was among those to buy an apartment in Sydney’s west from Wehbe. Like any modern-day Svengali, there are those who fall under the spell and others who nod their head, do what he says to keep the peace and then laugh when his head is turned.

His influence has grown in recent years as he has entered the player management realm following a well-documented split from Moses that was resolved on the steps of the Supreme Court.

Wehbe’s loyalists followed him when he set up Ignite Sports, Tedesco and Cherry-Evans among them. Which explains, in large part, why Wehbe has become such a divisive figure this week.

There was even talk that Tedesco and Cherry-Evans were gifted a share of Wehbe’s management company, although documents listed with ASIC suggest that is not the case.

While he owns a management company, Wehbe is not an accredited agent and therefore is not able to negotiate with NRL clubs. His nephew Jonathan and long-time agent Anthony Field are the accredited agents on the books of Ignite Sports.

James Tedesco is a long-time follower of Wehbe. Picture: NRL Photos

Yet it would be folly to think Joe Wehbe wasn’t heavily involved in the machinations of this week given the influence he has wielded over Tedesco and Cherry-Evans in recent years.

Cherry-Evans is one of his disciples and no doubt leaned on him for advice as he made the momentous decision to walk out on the Sea Eagles at the end of the season.

Manly certainly believed he was heavily involved in the background and it is understood – when relations were at their most volatile and the wounds were raw – that they were considering making a complaint to the NRL about the part he played given his lack of accreditation.

There’s nothing, however, wrong with Wehbe advising Cherry-Evans. He can speak to Cherry-Evans about all manner of things, including his football career. Advisers don’t need to be accredited.

Nor do football whisperers for that matter.

*****

Peter V’landys is gunning for the NRL’s biggest broadcasting deal in history. Picture: NRL Photos

You had to laugh at the way ARL Commission Peter V’landys had AFL boss Andrew Dillon on the hop this week. While rugby league bosses in the past have often run from a fight with the AFL, V’landys has never been afraid to poke the bear.

He got the response he was looking for at the weekend when Dillon attempted to fire back at V’landys declaration that rugby league was the country’s premier footballing code.

Dillon dithered as he rolled out what he called “traditional metrics” in response to V’landys. V’landys had dragged them into the trenches.

As a rugby league fan, it’s been fun to watch and reinforced the belief that the gap between the codes is now negligible, thanks in large part to the work done by V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo in recent years.

At its heart, this is all about broadcasting money and igniting interest in the talks that are about to kick off between the NRL and interested parties.

There is big money at stake and V’landys wants to ensure rugby league walks away from the table with a deal on par with the AFL.

If he can pull it off, it would cement his place as the greatest administrator in the code’s history. Rugby league has never really gone close to matching the AFL’s broadcasting dollars but this is the code’s best chance.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon. Picture: Hanna Lassen/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The game is flying on television, highlighted by the viewing numbers that V’landys’ spruiked this week and Dillon tried to trump. Bizarrely, he quoted attendance figures as part of his argument.

Hello, if people are at the games that means they aren’t watching on the television. It actually hurts the broadcasting numbers. Regardless, the footy stink has been gripping to watch.

Long may it continue.

Originally published as Weekend Read: The ‘football whisperer’ behind Daly Cherry-Evans’ Manly departure