DCE: the ‘Sea Eagle for life’ who wants out
Daly Cherry-Evans is a champion player. But the career of Manly’s club captain involved threats to quit, an infamous backflip on the Titans and repeated promises to remain a one-club player. Sea Eagles fans deserve an explanation.
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Let’s separate ourselves for a moment from some of the sycophantic commentary and spin we’ve heard about Daly Cherry-Evans and his future in rugby league.
For those just catching up, on Monday night Cherry-Evans dropped a bombshell by revealing he would leave the Sea Eagles at season’s end, confirming his next chapter was up in the air. The rumour mill is in overdrive about the involvement of another club. It comes after the Newcastle Knights announced Parramatta star Dylan Brown would be joining in 2026 on a monster 10 year deal.
Does anyone else think it is utterly bonkers that the NRL is still allowing players to sign with a rival team a year before their contract ends?
The current grace period offered to rugby league players rarely exists in the majority of sporting codes around the world. Nor would it frankly wash in most workplaces. If an employee at one of Australia’s big banks was poached by the opposition, they would be more likely to be marched by security then allowed to roam the corridors for the next 12 months.
The outdated contract clause is a reminder of rugby league’s bad old days and simply at odds with the inroads achieved by NRL bosses, led by Peter V’Landys and Andrew Abdo, who have tried at all times to prioritise the fans.
Those fans booed Dylan Brown last weekend at Parramatta’s home ground, when the Eels suffered their third consecutive loss and were touched up by the Wests Tigers. It could well happen again on Sunday when Cherry-Evans leads Manly onto the field at Brookvale Oval.
Wayne Bennett got it right this week when he called for the introduction of a transfer window, which remains the strong preference of league officials. The roadblock remains the stubborn Rugby League Players Association, with players arguing they need security and certainty about their future.
It is crazy, outdated policy. But don’t let that distort the unique case of Daly Cherry-Evans.
On multiple occasions throughout his phenomenal career, Manly fans have been assured their star halfback was a “Sea Eagle for life” and a “one club player.” These claims were used to justify major (and genuinely deserved) upgrades to his contract and salary.
But Daly’s threats to walk have played out in the public eye for nearly all of his first grade career. My colleague Dean Ritchie ronce an a back-page feature in The Daily Telegraph with the headline “Pay me what I’m worth… Cherry-Evans seeks contract release.”
Cherry-Evans had just won a Premiership in his debut season but was stuck in a low-paying deal well short of his new market value. His threat to quit landed just two rounds of the 2012 NRL season. The Sea Eagles took the bait and gave him the money, which began the process of dismantling Manly’s champion squads. Salary cap pressures would later force the likes of Glenn Stewart and Anthony Watmough to finish their careers at other clubs.
DCE took his threat to the next level peak levels ten years ago when he signed with the Gold Coast Titans, although he infamously backflipped at the last minute. An announcement from Manly in June 2015 stated Cherry-Evans “will be a Sea Eagle for life” and had “signed a playing contract that will keep him at Brookvale until the end of his NRL career.”
“This gives me an opportunity to become a one club player which is something I have always dreamed of since I arrived as an 18-year-old” Cherry-Evans said, just three months after he had shared his major excitement of returning to Queensland with a new club.
Manly got their man but it came at the expense of club legend Geoff Toovey, who was sacked as head coach at season’s end after narrowly missing the finals in a tumultuous year dominated by player departures.
There were more signs of Daly’s commitment in 2022 when a press release from the Sea Eagles said their captain “will now finish his distinguished NRL career in the maroon and white jersey” and his lucrative deal was again being extended.
“Myself and the club thought it was best to put everything to bed and I’m going to be lucky enough to be playing here for the rest of my career which is really great” Cherry-Evans said.
There is a big enough paper trail here for loyal Manly fans to hold the view, if they believed their captain was a man of his word, that he would never leave the Peninsula.
Instead, via a television interview on Nine, Cherry-Evans revealed he was heading for the exit door and considering other options. This was not his retirement, his Last Dance. It was notice of his intention to leave and keep his options open. There had been internal discussions about this for several months.
Sea Eagles officials have again taken the bait and rushed to offer a new two-year deal, live on NRL 360, which has now been formally rejected. And so the rugby league soap opera rolls on.
Some would argue this theatre brings a broader intrigue and audience to the NRL’s on-field action. “Has he fallen out with the coach? “Is he going to the Roosters?” “The Bulldogs?” “Back with Dessie at the Titans?” etc.
But the clubs involved - in this case Manly and Parramatta - would be rightly fearing this ongoing distraction will inevitably harm their season, which is less than a month old. These contract sagas rarely have a happy ending. The NRL would be wise to place this on top of its “priority list” in the end of season review.
As for Daly, he’s had remarkable achievements at all three levels of the game.
Manly fans would just be wondering how their “Sea Eagle for life” now appears certain to be carving up in a different jersey next year. They are entitled to answers from all parties involved.
Originally published as DCE: the ‘Sea Eagle for life’ who wants out
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