Ricky stews over cancelled meeting by Fogarty's agent as Raiders await final decision

As the pendulum swung in Manly's favour in the pursuit to sign Jamal Fogarty, Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was left stewing over a key turning point in negotiations last weekend. SALE ON NOW! Tap into unlimited access Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Mere days ago it appeared Fogarty was firming to re-sign with the Raiders when Canberra matched Manly's two-year $1 million deal to keep the experienced halfback. But the Sea Eagles upped the ante on Wednesday with a three-year contract worth an estimated $2.

1 million , and now Fogarty seems poised to sign with the Sydney club. Raiders chief executive Don Furner said Fogarty and his management are yet to advise the club of his decision. It is expected that Fogarty will wait until after this weekend's round eight clash against the Dolphins at Canberra Stadium on Sunday to confirm his future plans.



"We definitely won't be matching [Manly]. We just can't get to that," Furner told The Canberra Times. Stuart learned of the new Manly offer from media reports and as of Thursday morning said he hadn't yet spoken to Fogarty about it.

He did however question whether Fogarty's agent Tas Bartlett was really sick when a meeting with the coach on the Gold Coast last Saturday was cancelled. Jamal Fogarty is a half in demand. Picture by Karleen Minney Stuart believed it was a hint that the Raiders were losing the race to sign Fogarty.

"We pretty much got a feeling over last weekend on the Gold Coast, where his manager [Bartlett] lives, when he pulled out of a scheduled meeting because he had a cold,'' Stuart said to News Corp. "It must have cleared up pretty quickly because we saw him bouncing around at the football the following day. "Again, I hope the offer from Manly is correct, but I'm not certain it is real because Jamal hasn't spoken to me about it.

'' Fogarty publicly referenced the cancelled meeting and the reasons why it was "pushed back" following Canberra's 30-20 victory over the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday. "I was meant to catch up with my agent [on Saturday] but he's got the flu and he said, 'I don't want to see you a day before the game, Stick [Stuart] wouldn't be happy'. Because he was going to catch up with Stick as well.

So that pushed it back a little bit," Fogarty said post-game. "Yeh, definitely [want to make a decision sooner rather than later]. Tas [Bartlett] was going to catch up with the club yesterday, he was crook, so it's going to push it back another week which is not ideal because there was a lot of headlines around it.

But I can't control any of that." Jamal Fogarty arrived at the Canberra Raiders in 2022. Picture by Keegan Carroll Fogarty's agent Bartlett did not respond to The Canberra Times when contacted.

At $700,000 a season, what Manly is offering is an excellent deal for the experienced 31-year-old who has battled major injuries (knee, biceps) in his last few campaigns with the Raiders. It's also clearly more than Canberra were willing to pay for Fogarty's services when the club chose not to trigger an option which would have kept him in the capital one more year for an estimated $650,000. Despite this, Stuart has repeatedly shared his desire to keep Fogarty on a revised contract, so Canberra can continue to develop young halves duo Ethan Sanders and Ethan Strange for the future.

Should Fogarty leave next season, the countdown would officially be on for when promising 21-year-old Sanders can take the reins in the halves alongside his former NSW Under-19s Blues teammate Strange. The Raiders have had a hot start to 2025 and are already being talked about as genuine premiership chances this season. "There's a long way to go in this competition and the Raiders have been one of the standout sides in the opening seven weeks.

They're a serious contender in this competition," NRL commentator Phil Gould said on his Nine podcast this week. "Why not? We said after round one in Vegas they're fit and they're fast. And they're connected.

They're a really good solid group of players that enjoy playing together and play a nice brand of football. "They've won games in all sorts of manner so far this season, the only real glitch was when they had to go to Townsville and the extreme weather and humidity affected their football that day. Other than that they're extremely hard to beat.

" Sitting third on the NRL ladder, this weekend against the Dolphins the club will be aiming for its fourth-straight victory. NRL - ROUND 8 Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Dolphins at Canberra Stadium, 2pm Canberra Raiders: 1. Kaeo Weekes, 2.

Savelio Tamale, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5.

Xavier Savage, 6. Ethan Strange, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8.

Corey Horsburgh, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Joe Tapine (c), 11.

Hudson Young, 12. Matty Nicholson, 13. Morgan Smithies.

Interchange: 14. Owen Pattie, 15. Zac Hosking, 16.

Josh Papali'i, 17. Ata Mariota. Reserves: 18.

Simi Sasagi, 19. Jed Stuart, 20. Pasami Saulo, 21.

Trey Mooney, 22. Danny Levi. Dolphins: 1.

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, 2. Jamayne Isaako, 3. Jake Averillo, 4.

Herbie Farnworth, 5. Jack Bostock, 6. Kodi Nikorima, 7.

Isaiya Kotoa, 8. Daniel Saifiti, 9. Max Plath, 10.

Francis Molo, 11. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, 12. Tom Gilbert (c), 13.

Mark Nicholls. Interchange: 14. Kurt Donoghoe, 15.

Ray Stone, 16. Connelly Lemuelu, 17. Josh Kerr.

Reserves: 18. Kenneath Bromwich, 19. Sean O'Sullivan, 20.

Oryn Keeley, 21. Tevita Naufahu, 22. Junior Tupou.

Share Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email Copy Melanie Dinjaski Sports Reporter Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know.

If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch! Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know.

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