One of the first things Kieran Foran did when he was appointed to the Manly coaching staff was phone good friend Daly Cherry-Evans.

Rugby league’s worst-kept secret – Cherry-Evans joining the Sydney Roosters – is expected to be confirmed in the next few days, but that did not stop Foran putting in the call to the most capped Sea Eagle of all time just to see if there was any chance he would return to Manly.

“When we spoke, I said, ‘How about a backflip, Chez’, and he just laughed,” Foran said.

“I don’t know what will happen. I do know he wants to play on, and he will, 100 per cent he will.

“But I told him it would have been lovely to finish his career at Manly. He really deserved that.

“For one reason or another, he wants to go in a different direction. We don’t know what that directi

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