NRL 2022: Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans calls on fans to lower Tom Trbojevic expectations
Daly Cherry-Evans says it’s basically impossible for Tom Trbojevic to repeat his feats of last season and the Manly skipper has a warning for those people who expect it.
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Daly Cherry-Evans has told people to temper their unrealistic expectations of star fullback Tom Trbojevic after the duo combined to help Manly to a win against Canberra on Saturday.
While Cherry-Evans was easily the Sea Eagles’ best player as he completed a 20/40 and 40/20 double to show he is still one of the game’s premier No. 7s.
But Trbojevic has started relatively slowly compared to the loft heights he reached last year on his way to a Dally M award.
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He finished with a season high 252 running metres and seven tackle breaks but Cherry-Evans wants people to temper what they want from Trbojevic.
“What people have to realise is the stats that Tom put up last year are going to be very hard to do again but what he is doing is trying to get into the game,” Cherry-Evans said.
“He is going forward for us. You can’t underestimate that mindset he has at the moment which is to take it forward and everyone is following.”
Trbojevic acknowledged his feats of last year would be hard to top. He scored his second try of the season against the Raiders.
“I don’t read into what people expect of me,” Trbojevic said. “I’m just trying to do my job for the team. I was able to produce some good numbers last year … it can be hard to reach. I thought I did OK.
“We had a lot of ball in good field possession off the back of the way we defended. It was nice to be rewarded with the try late in the piece.”
The Sea Eagles have now won their past two matches after dropping their opening two games.
Cherry-Evans said the side had yet to find their feet.
“We are a work in progress like most teams after four rounds,” Cherry-Evans. “We are getting the job done. You have to take something out of that.
“We have a lot of work to do to get where we want to go. It’s only round four. We aren’t even close to where we need to be to win a finals game or whatever you want to talk about. “We have a lot of work to keep going. I feel like we are improving every week. There is something to be said about that. By the end of the year hopefully we’ve accumulated enough to play finals.”
They play the Knights on Thursday.
DCE masterclass schools Raiders as Manly shake off rust
A veteran’s right boot and a young gun’s blazing speed provided the fizz to Manly’s attack as the ‘Cherry-Koula’ combination helped the Sea Eagles beat Canberra 25-6 in Mudgee and earned unprecedented praise from Ricky Stuart.
Footy in the small NSW town has been a rare thing, but not as rare as the 20/40. But thanks to Daly Cherry-Evans, the tally has doubled after he nailed one early in the second half when the Raiders never saw it coming.
It’s just the second 20/40 ever kicked in the NRL after Melbourne’s Brandon Smith nailed one in the preliminary final loss to Penrith last year.
It was just one of a number of crafty kicks by the Sea Eagles skipper who backed up last week’s matchwinning field goal with another heroic display as he kicked Canberra into submission.
Whoever the new CEO is may as well sign Cherry-Evans for another 10 years after Saturday’s show reel earned incredible praise from the opposition coach.
“If I’m the Manly boss then I’d be going down there and putting a fresh bunch of flowers on Bob Fulton’s grave every day,” Ricky Stuart said.
“The smartest play that club ever made is pinching him back off the Titans for $1 million for 10 years. Everybody bagged ‘Bozo’ for it but it’s a masterstroke.”
Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler agreed.
This is remarkable from DCE. Absolute control. #NRLManlyRaiders
— Dan Talintyre (@dantalintyre) April 2, 2022
Feel like Manly and Canberra have put in the same effort but Manly have been much smarter. You can’t buy what DCE has between the ears, it can only be earned.
— Nick Campton (@campo37) April 2, 2022
“He’s probably just referencing what a great competitor he is and a leader as well. It’s those clutch moments, and that’s what he does so well,” he said.
“It’s great that you finally get to write about a 20/40. I thought his kicking game today was exceptional.”
He forced an error with a towering bomb, earned a couple of repeat sets, grubbered to set up a crucial try for Haumole Olakau’atu, landed a 40-20 and then put the cherry on top with a field goal to complete kicking’s version of bingo.
In all he kicked for a whopping 632 metres, with his umpteenth 40/20 leading to Tom Trbojevic’s match-sealing try from the very next set.
“A lot of it’s just off momentum and ruck speed from our forwards. It’s very instinctive stuff so I just got lucky with a few bounces,” Cherry-Evans humbly said.
CENTRE OF ATTENTION
Sea Eagles fans and Supercoach fanatics have been crying out for Des Hasler to pick Tolu Koula. Now he’s in, he may never leave their backline.
The 19-year-old has Olympic pedigree and his searing speed earned plenty of column inches in the pre-season.
It’s clear he’s still raw, but the potential is there after a really impressive showing on Saturday.
Koula was heavily involved and it took just 12 minutes for the left centre to justify his selection after he beat a defender and popped a pass for Reuben Garrick to open the scoring.
He finished the evening with 141 metres and a stack of tackles, but most importantly he held his own in defence which is exactly what Hasler wanted to see.
HISTORY REPEATS
It took an ugly 13-12 win to get them going last year, and history may be repeating for Manly.
In 2021 they started with four losses but turned it around thanks to a DCE field goal to win 13-12. They went to Mudgee the following week, recorded a big win with Trbojevic back in the side and went on to finish in the top four.
Last week they won 13-12 thanks to a Cherry-Evans field goal and backed it up in Mudgee with Trbojevic racking up 252 running metres in the win while playing with a cork.
“It’s bizarre,” Cherry-Evans said.
HOLD IT
Sometimes quality trumps quantity.
The Raiders won the offload count 21-10 but their desperation to promote the football proved their undoing as their completion rate fell apart in the second half.
The Green Machine looked flat in the first 40 but were rescued by some strong touches by Jack Wighton, but there was nothing positive about their play after the break.
They turned the ball over at a worrying rate and never challenged Manly’s line because they were too keen to move the ball. Offloads look great when they come off, but sometimes a safety-first approach is what it takes to win.
“It’s (about picking the moments). A couple of them weren’t in the moment, and it hurt us,” Stuart said.
“We know what’s hurting us.”
RAIDER’S WOES
Canberra hooker Tom Starling says it is the same errors each week. Coach Ricky Stuart agrees but said the problems can be fixed as the Raiders begin their first month of the season with two wins and two losses.
Starling said the side were “killing ourselves with yardage errors”.
“We’re giving easy leg ups with penalties,” Starling said. “We keep talking about it but we keep doing it. We’re not going to win games giving the ball away so early. It is a bit frustrating. It’s an easy fix. Sometimes we have to sit there and know we have to get down their end with a kick. We try and chase points.”
The Raiders trailed just 10-6 at half-time but conceded 15 unanswered second half points. They were unable to repeat their heroics of last week where they overcame a 22 point deficit against the Titans.
The Raiders made 13 errors.
Their second-phase play troubled the Sea Eagles but 24 off-loads resulted in poor handling.
Stuart said his team needed to pick their moments better.
im not concerned about that loss @RaidersCanberra just frustrated the ball handling is not improving we be right #WeAreRaiders
— Marco (@marcoraiders1) April 2, 2022
“A couple of them weren’t in their moment,” Stuart said. “(It is) execution of the correct play. We know what’s hurting us. We spoke about it very briefly (After the game). At 10-6 we were in it. I thought we finished that half off very well.
“We were the stronger team at the break. We spoke about that. Wanted to bounce off it in the second half.”
Canberra skipper Elliott Whitehead added: “We are giving too much ball away and (putting) a little bit too much pressure on.”
Back-rowers Hudson Young and Corey Harawira-Naera were placed on report on either side of half-time.
The Raiders will welcome back Seb Kris from Covid-19 protocols to play the Storm on Saturday.
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