Daly Cherry-Evans implores robbed Manly to move on quickly
The refereeing blunder that cost Manly the win against St George Illawarra was heartbreak for Daly Cherry-Evans but the Sea Eagles skipper says his team can’t afford to dwell on it.
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Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans says the Sea Eagles have to quickly put last weekend’s controversial loss to St George Illawarra behind them or face the consequences.
The Sea Eagles were denied a fourth successive win when their appeal for a late penalty was denied in the match against the Dragons on Saturday night.
The NRL has conceded a refereeing blunder denied Manly a chance to slot a penalty goal and take the game into golden point.
The NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley defended the rule on Tuesday, after Manly coach Des Hasler claimed that no-one understood the escort law. But they confirmed senior touchie Nick Beashel - a long-time grand final and State of Origin official - would be relegated back to reserve grade after failing to spot the escort penalty on Saturday night.
Chief referee David Munro has also been put back to an assistant role while pocket referee Liam Kennedy will be sent back to the touchline - although that is partly due to another senior official returning from injury.
Cherry-Evans stressed the Sea Eagles had to move on and focus on Sunday afternoon’s game against the high-flying Canberra Raiders at Brookvale Oval.
“They (Canberra) are not going to feel sorry for us after the weekend,” Cherry-Evans said. “We have to brush off the loss nice and quickly.
“That’s the thing about the NRL. You can’t be too disappointed for too long around your losses because the next week you have a good side waiting for you.
“We have to make sure we don’t leave any decisions in the ref’s hands. We have to make sure that we control what we do out there.
“It was really unfortunate because we were winning for a large portion of that second half.
“It’s fantastic the NRL is putting itself out there and owning its decisions.
“Players aren’t perfect, refs aren’t perfect, no one is. We have to live with that.
“To let our guard down right at the end and let in a try was really disappointing. It was a big lesson for us to learn.”
Manly have conceded just 100 points this season, the sixth least of any team this year and only three points worse than South Sydney and Parramatta.
Canberra have the best defence, having conceded just 66 points.
“A big part of the credit in how we are defending has to go to Des (Hasler) and the coaching staff,” Cherry-Evans said.
“They have implemented a few different structures around how we are defending.
“If we can continue to improve defensively we feel there will always be enough attacking ability in this side to score points and win games.”
The Raiders have surprised many in winning five of their six games to be third on the ladder on for and against.
“It’s no accident they’re in the top four, they have a great squad and have found all the pieces they have been searching for over the last few years,” Cherry-Evans said.
Originally published as Daly Cherry-Evans implores robbed Manly to move on quickly
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