{"id":314454,"date":"2025-11-28T14:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/314454\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T14:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:38:12","slug":"the-moles-10-best-buys-for-the-2026-season-daly-cherry-evans-to-roosters-misses-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/314454\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mole’s 10 best buys for the 2026 season, Daly Cherry-Evans to Roosters misses list"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> was the highest profile transfer of the off season<\/a> by many lengths – but I can’t find a place for him in my 10 best buys for 2026.<\/p>\n

DCE was only average for the Sea Eagles in 2025, and the oldest player in the NRL<\/a> will have even more miles under the hood next season.<\/p>\n

Ironically, I’ve rated the man who will replace him at Manly<\/a> after so many years as the best buy of the year.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Do better’: AFLW accused of ‘stagnation’ following sellout<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Roos great’s pointed warning for coach Clarkson<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Aussies receive massive Ashes boost ahead of Brisbane Test<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Jamal Fogarty (Raiders to Sea Eagles): The cunning halfback was instrumental in Canberra’s charge to the minor premiership last season and his kicking game and attacking instincts should propel Manly back into finals footy.<\/p>\n

\"Jamal<\/p>\n

Jamal Fogarty will be a Sea Eagle next year.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

2. Leo Thompson (Bulldogs to Knights): The big guy was a disappointment at the Knights this year – but he had plenty of mates. He’ll thrive in a better team at Belmore and add size and grunt to the Bulldogs up front.<\/p>\n

3. Dylan Brown (Eels to Knights): Another player who was below par in 2025 but should thrive with a change in colours. The Knights’ attack has been pedestrian in recent seasons and Brown showed what he is capable of doing in the recent Pacific Championships.<\/p>\n

4. Jack de Belin (Dragons to Eels): An experienced forward and natural leader, I believe the Dragons will realise mid-season they made a mistake in letting him go. Should be a great asset to the young Eels forwards.<\/p>\n

5. Selwyn Cobbo (Broncos to Dolphins): A player who desperately needed a change of scenery – has looked disinterested for the Broncos the past couple of seasons but has the ability to win matches and the new colours will do him the world of good.<\/p>\n

6. Lachlan Ilias (Dragons to Titans): Never got a look in after getting the Dragons off to a winning start early this year and has given himself a real challenge by trying to lift the lowly Titans. Will be interesting to see if he can get the job done.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lachlan\u00a0Ilias will look reiginite his career with the Titans.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

7. Kobe Hetherington (Broncos to Sea Eagles): Underrated performer was a key figure in the Broncos’ title charge and will be a senior forward at his new club. His work ethic should rub off on the Manly pack.<\/p>\n

8. Jack Hetherington* (Knights to Storm): A gamble for sure – the fiery prop has penalties and mistakes in his game but is also a force to be reckoned with – and if anyone can get the best out of him, it’s Craig Bellamy.<\/p>\n

9. Reed Mahoney (Bulldogs to Cowboys): A man with a point to prove after being dumped by the Bulldogs and I believe he offers more out of dummy-half than the man he is replacing at the Cowboys – Blues Origin hooker Reece Robson. Time will tell.<\/p>\n

10. Daniel Atkinson (Sharks to Dragons): The Dragons halves have really struggled for attacking strike and Atkinson should fix that quick smart. Elusive and capable of making a break, he could turn their woes around.<\/p>\n

* signing not yet confirmed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daly Cherry-Evans was the highest profile transfer of the off season by many lengths – but I can’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-314454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}