Phil Gould has applauded Luke Brooks for putting himself first and switching to Manly, as the Canterbury Bulldogs supremo predicts the future of Daly Cherry-Evans may change soon.
At 34, Cherry-Evans is in the twilight of his career, but is playing some of his best football after leading Queensland to another State of Origin series victory.
The Manly halfback will attempt to rescue his side's season when his duties with the Maroons end, with the Sea Eagles currently 13th on the ladder.
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The club's signing of Luke Brooks on a four-year-deal seemingly offers them a replacement when Cherry-Evans retires, and Gould believes that won't be too far off.
"I can't see Cherry-Evans going much beyond next year, if he plays next year," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
"I'm not saying I have any information on that, he's going terrific but you don't have to go until you're absolutely burned out before you retire.
"He's right on top of his game at the moment but he's 34 years of age."
Gould went on to state the shrewd business from Manly has given them plenty of cover in a market where the halfback stocks are depleted or overpriced.
"The insurance for Brooks by staying for four years (is good business), he'll be 32 when he comes off this contract, which a lot of our top halfbacks are at least that, and more, at the moment," he said.
"You go out and try and buy one … they're hard to come by and they're extremely expensive.
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"I think it's a great buy and I think he'll do a great job and I'm very, very happy for Luke Brooks and I think the best part of his career is in front of him."
Brooks' signature with Manly ends his long association with the Tigers, having debuted at the club in 2013.
The halfback has been under immense pressure ever since bursting onto the scene as a prodigious club junior.
Gould has been strong on his opinion that Brooks wasn't the problem at the club and referenced the loss of James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses in 2017 as part of the reason for his tough time.
"He's had 38 different halves with him and fullbacks … that was terrible what happened to the Tigers, losing those players and then their recruitment after that was awful, just awful," he said.
"It put the Tigers behind the eight-ball for another five years, trying to clear that out."
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