The day Fogarty broke news of Manly defection to Stuart

By GEORGE CLARKE

Former Canberra halfback Jamal Fogarty says he owes Ricky Stuart for saving his NRL career, as he prepares to face the Raiders in round one with new club Manly.

The conversation Fogarty dreaded the most when he decided to leave Canberra for Manly was the one with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.

“I didn’t know if he was going to try and fight me in his office or if he was going to give me a cuddle,” Fogarty said.

“Thankfully he said he was happy for me.”

Indigenous star Fogarty, who hails from Beaudesert in Queensland and is a member of the Mununjali clan of the Yugambeh people, will get a chance to catch up with Stuart at fulltime on Saturday after he lines up for the Sea Eagles’ season opener against the Green Machine at 4Pines Park.

Ricky Stuart will hope Jamal Fogarty’s first NRL game in Manly colours is one to forget. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)

The 32-year-old has nothing but respect for the Canberra coach who saved him from the NRL scrapheap, helping to prolong his career after Gold Coast told him he was unwanted in 2021.

“I was considering going to Super League post Titans and part of it was I could only negotiate with the Raiders,” Fogarty said.

“I was kind of pushed in that direction and had no other (NRL) option.

“It’s worked out great for me … I have to give a lot of credit to the Raiders for the development they gave me and the confidence in my game, especially the coaching staff and players down there.”

During Fogarty’s time in the nation’s capital, Canberra enjoyed a 64 per cent win rate with the halfback in the team, made finals in three of the four seasons and won last year’s minor premiership.

Jamal Fogarty scored eight tries in four seasons for Canberra. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)

But as dependable as he was, the Raiders were not willing to match Manly’s three-year offer as it meant they would block the path of highly-rated halfback Ethan Sanders.

Sanders will don Canberra’s No.7 jersey on Saturday and, alongside Hudson Young, will be tasked with halting Fogarty’s attacking threat down his favoured right side.

Fogarty warned: “I don’t have a side step too, I’m too old and too slow” as he gets set to start his Manly career.

The playmaker’s form will be a subject of significant interest given he has been set the unenviable task of replacing Daly Cherry-Evans.

Jamal Fogarty will face one of his former clubs on his Sea Eagles NRL debut. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS)

“I want to be someone that’s ultra consistent – last year was my best season and that came back to doing the little things well,” Fogarty said.

“So for the next couple of years here at Manly I want to try and replicate that for the whole time.

“I want to play my own style as well – I’m not DCE, I’m Jamal. I’m going to play my style … We’ve made some good strides in the pre-season and we just need to win a couple of games of footy.”

AAP