Sea Eagles star Reuben Garrick insists former teammate Daly Cherry-Evans played little part in luring him across to the Roosters next year, with no guarantees they’d even play together given the veteran half is only contracted for 2026.
The Roosters announced on December 4 that Garrick had signed a three-year deal from 2027 onwards, with Manly unable to keep a fan favourite who is 11 tries away from becoming just the fifth player in club history reach the 100 milestone.
It was assumed that Cherry-Evans’ defection to the eastern suburbs had played a key role in them signing Garrick for next year, but the Dragons junior insists that’s not the case.
Reuben Garrick is adamant Daly Cherry-Evans wasn’t the main reason he decided to sign with the Roosters.
“I didn’t chat to him at all really about it until right at the final part of it,” he said.
“I guess everyone thinks that that’s like a main reason, but to be fair, I’m not going to be making a decision for my family’s future and my own based off a mate who I’m going to have outside of footy anyway.
“It’s great that he’s there and who knows if he’s going to play next year there or not. I guess it depends on how well they go this year and everything like that.
“I’m excited about that future, but at the moment both feet are here and I’m going with Manly.”
Garrick didn’t want to disrespect his current club by talking too much about the Roosters and declared he was “110 per cent” in for the upcoming season.
“It is (a big call) and to be fair, it was emotional, too,” he said.
“I’ve spent basically my whole career – outside of my junior career at Dragons – and then I came up to Manly and had my first game of first grade here. It’s my eighth season here, so it’s quite a long time.
“I would have loved to have just played here at Manly, but that wasn’t to be the case. I’m excited about being in a new environment because sometimes change is really good, and hopefully it brings about some positive changes for myself.
“But as I said, it’s super weird talking about it a year out, so I don’t want to talk too much about it. I know you’re obviously going to ask those questions and I respect that, but it’s a bit of a weird situation.”
The Sea Eagles had fought to keep Garrick but the parties couldn’t reach an agreement that suited both their needs.
He concedes it’s not ideal to sign with a rival club a year before he can join them, but Garrick just wanted to get it done so it didn’t drag on and become a distraction.
The Sea Eagles star says he’s fully committed to the club before he leaves at the end of the season. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short
“I wanted to get it out of the way and rip the Band-Aid off straight away,” he said.
“I didn’t want it to sort of drag on all year and everyone knows straight away, and then you can get on with the rest of business.
“I was lucky enough to be in a position to be able to decide early. Sometimes you could come out early in the year and not have a great start or, God forbid, something happens and then you end up having another year off and then signing again.
“So it’s a tricky situation, but this is what it is. It’s the way that the system is sort of set up at the moment and that’s how it is.”
