‘TIME WILL TELL’

King won’t ring DCE for last-minute assurance over contract

TITANS coach Neil Henry says he won’t be making an 11th-hour phone call to Daly Evans this week to ensure his star recruit is still heading to the Gold Coast.

The Titans are anxiously awaiting the end of Round 13 this weekend which will ensure Cherry-Evans will honour his decision to join the club next year. The Titans poached the Manly superstar in Round 1 on a four-year deal worth $4 million but there has been speculation since that Cherry-Evans (pictured) was contemplating reneging on the deal to stay at the Sea Eagles.

The speculation intensified when Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran announced he’ll be joining Parramatta next year and the Sea Eagles’ chances of retaining Cherry-Evans grew when they snared Titans skipper Nate Myles for 2016.

Cherry-Evans and Myles are good friends, with the Queensland prop playing a large role in luring the halfback north.

Cherry-Evans has had the opportunity to put the rumours to bed but has not given a definite answer when asked if he will be at the Titans next year.

NRL rules stipulate he has until two days after Round 13 completes (June 10) to backflip on his decision but Henry said he wouldn’t be making a lastditch bid to ensure the Test and Origin star will honour his contract at the Titans.

“No. I haven’t spoken to him for six weeks,” he told Triple M.

“We text messaged, had a couple of conversations and a couple of meetings before he signed. He considered a lot of things before he made his decision. It wasn’t a rushed decision at all. He came back and said, ‘I want to come up here. It’s attractive for me and my partner wants to come. We’ll move our family north’.

“There was a lot of speculation starting to mount up so we said, ‘look, you get on with your job at Manly’ and that’s what he’s been doing. I told him to feel free to give me a call if he needs to and vice-versa.

Henry said Cherry-Evans’ failure to put the rumours to bed “is what it is” and the Titans were waiting to lodge the contract with the NRL.

“He’s just stated what the situation is,” he said.

“All I can go on is what he said before and that he’s seen no reason to change his initial decision.

“The rules are in place as they stand at the moment. There’s an opportunity for that to change right up until the deadline. Time will tell.”

1

TIMING HIS RUN: There’s no doubt

James Roberts is the most dangerous player the Titans possess. But he can’t expect to do something special every time he touches the ball. Roberts has to pick his moments to shine.

2

DODGY DEFENCE: The Titans missed 40 tackles against the Rabbitohs and have a few concerns with their defence. They scrambled well to stay in the game but can’t keep producing numbers like those. Lock Lachlan Burr missed nine tackles.

3

RISKY RYAN: Ryan James didn’t do his State of Origin chances any favours with an ill-disciplined performance. James gave away two penalties against the Rabbitohs and is the most penalised player in the competition. You can’t play like that in Origin.

4

CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS: Have the Titans made the right decision to let skipper Nate Myles leave next season? Myles was great for Queensland last Wednesday then backed it up with 35 tackles against the Rabbitohs.

5

DUMMY-HALF DILEMMA:

Daniel Mortimer had a great game starting at hooker but it looks like bench rake Kierran Moseley may be starting to feel the effects of a tiring season. Moseley is very quick from dummy-half but only ran once in the game.