By Neil Breen
Rugby league fans expect a lot. Mostly, they expect everything. And when they don’t get it, they let you know.
Yesterday, it was widely expected that Manly fans would let Daly Cherry-Evans know what they thought of his decision to leave the club at the end of this 15th year of service.
To the surprise of many, they let him know they were OK with it.
He led the Sea Eagles on and headed toward the Bob Fulton Stand at the northern end.
They cheered and clapped. Many stood. Cherry-Evans reciprocated for an extended period.
Then the chant rang out: “Daly, Daly, Daly …” .
Daly Cherry-Evans and Manly fans on Sunday.Credit: NRL Photos
On the eastern side, they waved oversized Daly Cherry-Evans faces. There were signs – “Cherry-ishing Every Moment” and “Thanks Daly” among the many.
He ran onto the field before kick-off smiling.
Two hours earlier, he arrived alone in his car at the back of the main grandstand and got out smiling. No fanfare. No hangers-on. Just him and his kit bag.
He smiled through his pre-match interview with Ruan Sims on Channel Nine.
The weight of the world was off his shoulders. You could see it a mile off. The Band-Aid had been ripped off, and it was going to be OK.
He wanted out, he let the world know, and while the debate about him dominated the week, he got to game day, and it was time to move on.
While uncertain about what sort of reception he’d get, no one was in doubt about the performance he’d deliver. That performance resulted in another Manly win – a comfortable 26-12 victory over winless Parramatta.
The output was exactly what he’s done for 15 years – a display of total commitment and the utmost professionalism.
Daly Cherry-Evans was in front of Manly before the match.Credit: Getty Images
He’s turned up fit and ready to go, physically and mentally, week-in, week-out, missing only 20-odd games. Yesterday was no different.
He was in everything early and could have scored the first try when Jason Saab streaked away. Cherry-Evans was on his inside and a simple pass would have put him over. But there’s no room for sentimentality in round four, no matter the circumstances.
The respect shown to Cherry-Evans was in stark contrast to what the Eels’ Dylan Brown has been copping at CommBank Stadium from Parramatta fans after signing the $13 million, 10-year Newcastle deal.
Constant boos and jeers for a player they believe has under-delivered for them, and has now bolted for extra money.
Dylan Brown takes on the Manly defence.Credit: Getty Images
In Cherry-Evans, Manly fans have accepted after such a long stint of service, and at the age of 36, he’s earned the right to make his own choices.
They’re not stupid, rugby league fans. They get it, even though the game often gets stuck between the glory days of old and the modern workplace of today.
In the “glory days”, players were paid but had other jobs that they left at the door on the weekend as they spilled blood and thrilled the diehards.
Now, they’re full-blown professionals, working under the sort of public scrutiny employees in regular workplaces would find unacceptable.
Playing in the NRL is a job. NRL clubs are workplaces, bound by the same laws and regulations as any workplace.
The players have a union, the RLPA, and have rights such as regulated holidays and mandated days off.
But, inside that collective, players are sole traders, and make sole-trader decisions. Every time a player signs a contract we’re told “they’re doing the best they can for themselves and their family’s future”.
Manly fans on Sunday let Cherry-Evans know they understood what he was doing. He goes with their blessing.
As the week played out, Cherry-Evans was offered never-ending public advice – that he had to stay and be a one-club Manly man like Cliffy and Beaver, Snake and Toovs. Take one for the team.
He was derided for “loving the cash”. Email after email to talkback radio said as much – “DCE loves the cash”.
It’s a safe bet to assume the blokes writing those emails love their cash, too.
So, is a plumber who’s offered a thousand more a week to take on a job at a new housing development going to knock it back? Hardly.
The cheers of the Sea Eagles fans were their way of telling him it was OK and for him to ignore the noise.
While it’s not the end of the story, the home clash with the Eels was at least the full stop on a week of madness which was rugby league theatre at its best.
And when the rugby league theatre draws the curtains, what you watch can be pure pantomime, the truth hidden somewhere in the shadows.
There’s no way we’re hearing the truth, and nothing but the truth, from either Cherry-Evans or Manly.
And when the full truth isn’t out there, and it rarely is in rugby league, the petrol on the flames is extreme.
Cherry-Evans is different, and marches to his own beat. Manly fans have fallen in behind.
They have a bigger problem than DCE leaving anyway – Tom Trbojevic’s hamstrings and knees.
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