Manly officials are still lobbying the NSW government for a new centre of excellence, but they had one hiding in their halves all along.
He comes in the form of Dylan Walker.
Walker vowed that he wanted to spend the rest of his career in the centres of Friday night after he produced a match-winning display for the Sea Eagles.
The 22-year-old scored twice in the final 13 minutes to help Manly to a shock 18-12 win over the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, their third in succession.
It also ended the Roosters' unbeaten start to the season but, more importantly, marked Walker's triumphant return to the outside backs.
"That's probably my position," Walker said.
"I spent a whole pre-season there. We worked on combos for the whole time It's probably where I'm most comfortable and it's probably where I will stay to be honest."
Walker endured a mixed season at five-eighth last year after arriving from South Sydney.
As injuries crippled Manly's spine, he struggled to strike up combinations in attack for the Sea Eagles but he looks a rejuvenated player back in the centres.
He easily got the better of future star Latrell Mitchell on Friday night, minimising his role in defence and on one occasion stepping around him to present a chance for winger Akuila Uate.
Walker scored his first off a Blake Green grubber, while his matchwinner was a rare example of centres combining when he ran onto a Brian Kelly pass mid-field, and ran more than 40 metres to score.
"They probably say centre is a dead position these days," Walker said.
"I was lucky enough to be at Souths and did the same there. The more involvement we had, it was going to be better.
"Brian has a real footy brain and he knows the game well. I was just pushing up and he gave the ball to me by surprise. It was good to get the try."
Walker's finish has Manly 3-2 after five matches, having knocked off heavyweights North Queensland and dismantled Canterbury in recent weeks.
It's a far cry from the side that started the season with consecutive losses and had coach Trent Barrett's future in question following a miserable round-two loss to the Rabbitohs.
"We had a big meeting - we knew that wasn't our standard," Walker said.
"We went back to the drawing board and said we had to run hard and tackle hard. It's just an attitude thing that changed.
"Everyone had their say. We all took it on board. We probably took it personally to perform. We weren't doing it right by Baz, and we wanted to do it for ourselves."
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