Man charged for entering field and grabbing Daly Cherry-Evans

A man will front the courts after allegedly invading the pitch and grabbing axed Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in a bizarre ending to Friday night’s Titans-Manly game. See the video here.

A Queensland man will face court after allegedly invading the pitch and grabbing axed Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in a bizarre ending to Friday night’s Titans-Manly game on the Gold Coast.

Cherry-Evans’ horror week continued when he was rushed at by a fan moments after the Sea Eagles were beaten 28-8 by the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium.

‘DCE’ had a poor night against the Titans in his first NRL game since being dumped as Queensland Origin captain for Wednesday’s second game of the series in Perth.

He was then startled by the man, dressed in Manly gear, who ran on the field after fulltime and got hands on him briefly before being tackled to the ground by multiple security guards.

A man has been charged for entering the playing surface and touching Daly Cherry-Evans.

Queensland Police confirmed the man had been charged.

“A 29-year-old Robina man has been charged with enter field of play following an incident near Stadium Drive, Robina last night,” police said in a statement.

“He has been issued a notice to appear at Southport Magistrates Court at a later date.”

While Cherry-Evans struggled, Gold Coast veteran Kieran Foran, another ex-Sea Eagle, stole the show as Hasler released the pressure valve with a much-needed victory.

A near full-strength Manly side was left embarrassed by the second-string Titans and Haumole Olakau’atu suffered a serious shoulder injury to round out a shocking night for Anthony Seibold’s Sea Eagles.

Kieran Foran had a strong game. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

CHERRY BOMBS OUT

Cherry-Evans, 36, was controversially dropped by the Maroons for Wednesday’s must-win Origin game in Perth.

It was a big call by Queensland coach Billy Slater to punt his 26-game captain in favour of Tom Dearden.

‘DCE’ destroyed the Broncos a fortnight ago and many thought he would come out with a point to prove against the Titans 10 years after he infamously backflipped on a contract with Gold Coast.

But he did little to prove Slater made the wrong call in a Manly team that was out-enthused by the desperate Titans.

While Cherry-Evans had some nice moments, including a try-assist for Reuben Garrick, two poor kicks to gift the Titans seven-tackle sets summed up his and Manly’s night.

“We were outplayed,” Manly coach Seibold said.

“We missed far too many tackles which is an attitude thing.

“We started well in the first 10 minutes and after that we were well outplayed and couldn’t get back into the contest.

“It comes back to attitude and being consistent individually and collectively.

“We are a really good footy team. Our first month was outstanding and even a few weeks ago we were really good against the Broncos.”

HASLER’S HUGE WIN

Hasler was under immense pressure following eight losses in nine games, with the Titans boasting the NRL’s worst defensive record, conceding an average of 31.8 points per game, on the back of last week’s dreadful 44-14 loss to Brisbane.

It looked like the floodgates may open again when they made errors in their opening two sets and conceded in the fifth minute.

With 10 players unavailable for selection, including Maroons props Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika, the Titans had excuses to fold again.

But Hasler’s bits-and-pieces team, with unheralded debutants Josh Patston and Tuki Simpkins, found something and put the lethargic Sea Eagles to the sword.

Fullback AJ Brimson (247m) ran the ball with purpose and 307-game veteran Foran played his best game of the season, upstaging his 2011 Manly premiership halves partner Cherry-Evans.

HAUMOLE ’GONE FOR A WHILE’

In a big blow for Manly, Haumole Olakau’atu suffered a dislocated shoulder and is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines.

“He dislocated his shoulder there so he’ll get scans over the weekend and if there’s bone damage then potentially you have to do reconstruction,” Seibold said.

“If it’s muscle only or the ligaments only then potentially you can rehab it over six weeks but he’s going to be gone for a while.

“But just summed up the night you know he’s going for a try and dislocates his shoulder, so we will miss him of course. He is a quality player.”

Haumole Olakau'atu dislocated his shoulder. Picture: NRL Photos

SLOPPY SEA EAGLES

The Sea Eagles spent the week in camp on the Gold Coast and it looked like they suffered sunstroke.

For the first time since 2015, Manly did not have any players missing to State of Origin duty while they also welcomed back Dally M fullback Tom Trbojevic from injury.

It seemed Manly would be in for an easy night when Garrick celebrated his 150th NRL game with a try inside five minutes following a couple of early errors from the Titans.

But the Sea Eagles went to sleep soon after.

Titans flyer Alofiana Khan-Pereira equalled the record for the fastest player to reach 50 tries in the NRL era, joining ex-Eels weapon Semi Radradra in reaching the milestone in his 52nd game with a double.

Manly simply wasn’t up for the fight and paid the price, suffering back-to-back losses to bottom four teams following last week’s choke against Newcastle.

To make matters worse, rampaging backrower Olakau’atu suffered a painful shoulder injury.

Re-live all the action in our blog below.

Originally published as Man charged for entering field and grabbing Daly Cherry-Evans