[6][7] He represented Western Australia, alongside future teammates Peter Bell, Jeff Farmer and Troy Cook.

He returned for the start of the 1998 AFL season, but in the Round 6 clash against Port Adelaide he suffered a recurrence of the injury and required a second reconstruction.

[14] He even denied the rumours early in the season[15] before announcing that his final game of AFL football would be in the Round 18 Western Derby at Subiaco Oval.

[8] McManus played his final game of football on 3 August 2008 against the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco Oval, in which the Dockers won by 33 points.

[16] The McManus family is well known in Fremantle: comedian Rove McManus, inaugural Fremantle coach Gerard Neesham, Order of Australia recipient Sam Kerr and West Coast's Daniel Kerr are his cousins; he is also related to Con Regan and Melbourne Cup–winning jockey J. J. Miller, and he attended Corpus Christi College in Bateman, Western Australia.

In 2009, McManus joined the on-air personalities Nathan & Nat for breakfast on Perth radio station Nova 93.7, replacing cricketer Ryan Campbell.