NRL great Sam Thaiday calls out Manly Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans for ‘blatant’ dive
A former State of Origin teammate has called out Manly Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans for “exploiting” the NRL’s rules.
NRL
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Brisbane Broncos great Sam Thaiday has accused Manly Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans of milking an obstruction penalty during last week’s clash at Central Coast Stadium.
During the Sea Eagles’ narrow victory over the Brisbane Broncos on Thursday, fullback Darius Boyd was denied a try late in the first half because Cherry-Evans fell to the ground after making contact with Corey Oates.
The try was disallowed after the Bunker decided the Manly skipper had been taken out by obstruction. However, the Fox League commentators suggested the 31-year-old may have “milked” the collision.
If the try had been awarded, the Broncos — who are yet to register a victory since the coronavirus lockdown — would have taken a 24-point lead into the break. Instead, the hosts made a remarkable comeback in the second half to secure a 20-18 win.
Fox Cricket commentator Mark Waugh vented his frustration on Twitter.
“Defenders are milking the rule. You only have to look at DCE last Thursday for the Sea Eagles v Broncos,” Waugh posted on Tuesday.
“He deserves an Oscar for that; never a hope of stopping the try. Cost the Broncos being up 24-0.”
Cherry-Evans exploiting the NRL’s dumbest rule to perfection. Genius from him. He knew exactly what he was doing. #NRL
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) June 11, 2020
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Thaiday poked fun at his former State of Origin teammate on Wednesday, calling out Cherry-Evans for his “blatant” acting performance.
“DCE, congratulations, you have won the Academy Award for the best dive so far in the 2020 season,” Thaiday said on QLDER.
“Corey Oates playing back-row kind of ran the wrong line. By the letter of the law, yes, Corey Oates did the wrong thing but DCE, you could see that was a blatant dive.
“If you go back and look at DCE’s history, there’s a lot of clips out there with him diving.”
Thaiday was potentially referencing an NRL match in 2017, when Cherry-Evans was again accused a diving during Manly’s win over the Broncos. In that instance, Thaiday was the player pinged for the critical obstruction penalty in the 79th minute.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett slammed Cherry-Evans for his “deliberate” fall after the match.
“You can’t just get tapped like he did and fall over backwards — it was obviously deliberate,” Bennett said.
“He realised he was gone, that he had made the wrong decision defensively.
“You can’t have it both ways, you can’t change your line and then all of a sudden there’s a minor collision, it wasn’t even a collision.
“We’ve got officials in the game and administrators have got to make decisions and say, ‘That’s not acceptable’.”
Cherry-Evans has played 221 games for Manly since making his NRL debut in 2011. The Australian representative signed a mammoth eight-year deal with the Sea Eagles in 2015, which is reportedly worth more than $10 million.
Speaking on 100% Footy, Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould declared the person who first came up with the “stupid” interpretation of the obstruction rule should “rot in jail”.
“What they’ve done is create a drama out of the system that they’ve got,” Gould said on Monday.
“Those incidents happen 50 times a game.
“Don’t be going back every time a try is scored and go check that.
“If you don’t send it to the bunker, we haven’t got a problem.
“The rules are wrong.
“Whoever came up with that should be locked away and never seen again. They should rot in jail.
“What person ever came up with a rule that I must run at his inside shoulder? How stupid.”
Originally published as NRL great Sam Thaiday calls out Manly Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans for ‘blatant’ dive