Daly Cherry-Evans’ Origin call will give Manly the best chance to win the premiership
Unlike the mess that was the Daly Cherry-Evans vs. Manly contract saga, the club captain standing down from State of Origin should be the cleanest call of all, writes DAVID RICCIO.
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It’s been 14 years since Daly Cherry-Evans steered Manly to the club’s last premiership.
If he’s serious about trying to do everything possible to make it happen again before he empties his locker, which he’s told us he is, the Sea Eagles, and not Queensland, must come first.
“I wanted to confirm I was leaving the club now, rather than making a call later in the season, so that we can get on with our goal of winning a premiership,” Cherry-Evans said in a press statement last Thursday.
“I love this club and this group of players.
“I am fully committed to giving my absolute best over the coming months to make this season the best it can possibly be for our team, our club, and our fans.”
Unlike the mess that was the Cherry-Evans-Manly contract saga over the past week, the Manly skipper standing down from Origin should be the cleanest call of all.
Cherry-Evans has been the starting halfback for Queensland in the last six Origin series.
Manly have made the top-four just once during that period – in 2021.
Ahead of this weekend, they were sitting third.
Are we to be so naive not to consider that Cherry-Evans, with his role so influential as Queensland’s chief puppeteer and captain, returns to Manly after each State of Origin series without a hint of mental and physical fatigue?
Are we to ignore the fact that Manly’s run home this season, once the Origin series is over, is going to require every layer of Cherry-Evans’ leadership?
It’s a nightmare run home that includes just three of eight games at fortress 4 Pines Park.
Undeniably, Cherry-Evans is enjoying his twilight years.
His support play and pass selection, his kicking-game, his reading of the play and his defence, is the stuff of dreams for someone closing in on their forties.
But let’s not kid ourselves that it’s getting any easier for the longest-serving Sea Eagle.
We can’t just ignore that the Origin arena remains the most brutal competition in the world.
We can’t just ignore that if Cherry-Evans is to win this year’s Origin series and also the premiership with Manly at 36, he will have to become the oldest player in the history of the NRL-era to do so.
As it stands currently, the oldest player to do the double in the same year is Cooper Cronk in 2017 with Queensland and the Storm, who was 35 years and 30 days old.
And guess what happened no less than five-months after he lifted the Origin shield? Cronk retired from the representative arena.
Cherry-Evans is yet to declare if he’ll be available for Billy Slater’s Queensland Origin team.
That indicates there’s still time for the 36-year-old to leave a legacy on the Peninsula that right now, would turn even the most disillusioned Sea Eagles fan.
Slater has Cowboys playmaker Tom Dearden and Storm star Cameron Munster at his disposal for the Maroons, so any suggestion of Cherry-Evans leaving the Maroons high and dry doesn’t wash.
An unforgettable season in the heart of every Sea Eagles fan, Cherry-Evans played 27 games to lift the trophy in October.
The only games he missed were the two byes.
In 2013, Manly made the grand final, losing to the Roosters. Again, he played 27 games that season.
Manly might be preparing for life after Cherry-Evans.
But there’s still a premiership this year to be won and to do something special they need Cherry-Evans available for every game that remains this season.
The Manly captain has told everyone that winning the title before leaving Brookvale is his goal.
For the best chance of that happening, he should stand down from State of Origin.
Originally published as Daly Cherry-Evans’ Origin call will give Manly the best chance to win the premiership
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