With all the talk around the impending departure of Parramatta’s “franchise player” Dylan Brown to the Knights next year on ridiculous money, the tedious “where’s Daly” saga as DCE looks to cash in when he leaves Manly in 2026, and the mid-season signing of young gun Lachlan Galvin by the Canterbury Bulldogs, one of the most significant halfback moves has slipped under the radar.
I’m referring to Jamal Fogarty’s move from the Canberra Raiders to Manly in 2026. Mark my words – the loss of Fogarty could prove to be the Raiders’ “silly Solly” moment and seriously affect their ability to capitalise on their long-awaited resurgence this year.
For those of you who can’t remember, and Souths fans are advised to look away now, silly Solly’s folly refers to the decision by Souths CEO Blake Solly to let Rabbitohs’ favourite son Adam Reynolds depart the club after he led them to within two points of their 22nd premiership in 2021.
Then aged just 31, and still at the peak of his powers, Reynolds wanted to renew his contract with Souths for two more years, but Solly thought the better of it, and decided that the playmker was either too old or too expensive, was easily replaceable by an up-and-coming Lachlan Ilias, and offered Reynolds a low-ball one-year contract instead.
Reynolds waves during his days at hometown side Souths (Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s history now that Reynolds rejected this insulting offer and was picked up by the Broncos for $2.4 million over three years.
Souths slipped to seventh place the following year, missed the finals altogether in both 2023 and 2024, and are a good chance of taking out the wooden spoon this year, and without Reynolds, their premiership window was slammed firmly shut.
What on earth was silly Blake Solly thinking? Reynolds was a local junior who had spent his entire ten-year career with Souths, he was the club captain, a grand final winner with the club in 2014, a respected leader both on and off the field, the club’s highest-ever point scorer, one of the best halfbacks in the game, and a player who had a lethal combination with the club’s attacking weapons in Cody Walker, Damien Cook, Cameron Murray and Latrell Mitchell.
In many respects, he was their talisman and embodied the South Sydney spirit more than any other player in the club.
Now, four years later, Canberra might have made the same rookie error, and the departure of 31-year-old Jamal Fogarty to the warmer climes of Manly in 2026 might see the Raiders’ prospects of winning their first premiership since Josh Papali’i was a toddler disappear faster than a Canberra politician’s promise.
Happily for Stuart and the long-suffering Raiders fans, Canberra are currently sitting on top of the table and are every chance of winning the minor premiership from here and running out in the decider at Accor Stadium on October 5, but it’s often said that sometimes a team needs to lose a grand final before winning one, and if that’s the case, the loss of Fogarty may be a sliding doors moment that sees their chances of winning a premiership over the next couple of years disappear if they don’t actually nail it this year.
There’s no doubt that Canberra has a very strong side, ably led by Joseph Tapine, and full of exciting players including Kaeo Weekes, Ethan Strange, Owen Pattie, Xavier Savage, Matt Timoko and Hudson Young, but the experienced half Jamal Fogarty has been the glue holding the team together, and is the steady hand Stuart can rely upon to come up with the clutch plays.
Ethan Sanders, a star Parramatta junior who represented NSW at both under-18 and under-19 level, looks to be Fogarty’s heir apparent, but at age 21 and with only three first grade games to his name, he’s all promise and no delivery at this stage, and the game is littered with star juniors who struggled to adapt to the pressures of NRL when given the opportunity.
The Raiders’ hopes of remaining at the top of the table over the next couple of years, and possibly winning another premiership, may be dashed without Fogarty’s experience, cool head and game management.
His loss may be one that the Raiders live to regret.
