Daly Cherry-Evans has played the majority of his career alongside close mate Kieran Foran, but he believes his combination with replacement Josh Schuster can end Manly’s title drought.
The Sea Eagles haven’t tasted premiership success since Cherry-Evans and Foran combined in his first year of first grade to lead the club to grand final glory against the Warriors in 2011.
Cherry-Evans has played seven of his 12 seasons in first grade with Foran as his running mate and was sad to see him go, but is excited to play alongside Schuster in 2023.
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“Obviously Foz (Foran) has been a good friend, so it is not just the footy that I will miss,” Cherry-Evans told foxsports.com.au.
“It is the catching up with him away from footy as well, but that is one of the great parts of footy is having those friendships even when you are not at the same club.
“Moving forward I am really excited to play alongside someone like Josh (Schuster), whose ability is there for everyone to see.
“A big part of our job will be making sure we connect on the footy field. We are doing a heap of stuff at training to try and make that work.
“Like most halves combinations it does take time, so while we are hoping to get off to a really strong start we do have to understand that we are playing alongside each other for the first time, so building throughout the year is the most important part.”
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Despite appearing in another grand final in 2013 where he won the Clive Churchill Medal in a losing side against the Roosters and a couple of preliminary final near misses, Cherry-Evans has been unable to taste premiership success for a second time.
Now the captain of the club, Cherry-Evans wants nothing more than to bring Manly a first premiership since his rookie year.
“It would be so special,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Being a part of team success is the ultimate, whether it is your club, anything for Australia or State of Origin those winning moments are so special.
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“I got to taste success early in my career here at the club and it has been a long time since then, but the fire still burns more than ever to be a part of Manly’s next premiership.
“I’m really hoping that it is sooner rather than later because I would love to be involved in it and I don’t know how long I have got left, so you want to make every year count.”
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Now 17 games short of the 300-club, Cherry-Evas recently signed a contract extension through until the end of 2025, which will see him play until he is 36 at least.
Still one of the fittest at the club, Cherry-Evans refuses to put an end date on his career, even joking he wouldn’t know what to do if he wasn’t playing footy.
“I don’t know, I thought the last one was my last contract,” Cherry-Evans said.
“But I’m just enjoying footy and at my age it is nice to have that security behind me with a contract like that.
“But at the end of the day I am not going to be held to a contract deadline. I am just going to keep playing for as long as I am doing a good job for this club and they feel as though I am the right person for the job I am going to keep doing it because let’s be honest, what else am I going to do?”
Helping keep Cherry-Evans fresh and motivated has been the changing of the coaching set-up this off-season.
While the veteran halfback is a massive fan of Des Hasler and was sad to see him go, he admits the change has helped revitalise the whole squad, himself included.
“Des has been a massive influence on my rugby league career from the very start to the latter part of my career, so I have always been really appreciative of Des and the time that he has put into me as a player and a person,” Cherry-Evans said.
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“We will always have a friendship beyond just him coaching me, which is nice. That’s what footy is all about really.
“It is obviously really different now with Seibs and his new staff, so at this stage of my career it is really refreshing to have to try and learn new things and adapt.
“But I am really enjoying the change and the playing group is really enjoying the change, so we just need to translate that now to a good start to the season.”
As the leader of the team, Cherry-Evans was more disappointed than most with the way their 2022 campaign capitulated at the back end to see the club miss the finals after falling one game short of the grand final in 2021.
“We have sort of been one year on, one year off to be honest,” Cherry-Evans said.
“So if that is anything to go by we should be back in the finals this year (laughs).
“But seriously, we are doing everything we can here at training on the field and off the field to try and give ourselves the chance to play finals footy this year because we know once we get there anything can happen once you play finals.
“The priority is to start well this season and I feel like we are doing everything we possibly can at this club to try and turn it around.
“We are lucky with new staff and a few new personnel that while a lot of people will still talk about last year, this is a new season.
“We have a new opportunity to start fresh and we have done that at pre-season so far, so we are hoping to translate it into some good footy to start.”
There isn’t much Cherry-Evans hasn’t achieved in his glittering rugby league career, including captaining Queensland to an Origin win for the second time last season and winning a World Cup for his country.
Unfortunately, Cherry-Evans lost his Kangaroos No.7 jersey to Nathan Cleary for the final, but he is not ready to hang up his boots in terms of representative footy just yet.
“A lot of people said to when I came back, well done that’s your career done,” Cherry-Evans said.
“It was a tough crowd, but I haven’t retired from any sort of rep footy, so that is not to say it is not Nathan’s (Cleary) for as long as he is still playing, but you never know what is going to happen down the road.
“It would be silly for me to just shut it down now and say that was it.
“I love footy too much to be walking away form rep footy just yet. I’m super motivated to keep trying to play good footy and if a spot did ever come up then hopefully I am playing good enough footy to be picked again.”
Regardless of his disappointment at not playing in the final, Cherry-Evans holds Australia’s World Cup success as one his best achievements and memories in rugby league.
“It was an amazing experience,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Mal and the staff provided us an opportunity to not just go over there and win, but also to have fun.
“We did a lot of stuff together as a team and connected really well away from footy, so they are definitely memories and relationship that I will keep for a long time. It was a special experience.”
Manly have a new look squad in 2023 with Kieran Foran (Titans), Dylan Walker (Warriors), Martin Taupau (Broncos), Andrew Davey (Bulldogs) moving on.
But joining the club are new faces Kelma Tuilagi (Tigers), Ben Condon (Cowboys), Cooper Johns (Storm), Nathaniel Roache (Eels).
Cherry-Evans believes the new recruits have been vital in keeping the squad fresh and adding depth in key positions.
“They all bring something different which is good,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Coops (Johns) is a bit of personality to have around the place, which is funny, but he is also a pretty crafty footy player, which has been a nice addition to our halves depth.
“Roachie (Roach) has just been trying to get his body right. It has been a pretty torrid affair for his career to date, but hopefully all of that is behind him, so he can play some good footy because I feel like there is a really good footy player behind him and hopefully that can shine this year.
“Condo (Condon) is doing a really good job in the middle of the field for us. He is pretty versatile whether it is edge back row or front row, so that will be a good addition to our forward pack.
“Kelma (Tuilagi) has played a fair bit of first grade last year for the Tigers and went on to play for Samoa, so he is really starting to find his identity as a first grader and he is someone we are going to need to step up this year and play some good footy and keep improving on where he is at.
“But he has fit in really well so far and he will be a great addition.”
Cherry-Evans deserved a break after a long 2022 campaign that included an Origin series win and World Cup triumph, but that didn’t stop him returning to training ahead of schedule.
Turning around Manly’s fortunes is his number one priority this season, but he admits he did second guess his early return during a gruelling Army camp his first week back.
“I wouldn’t say I regret it, but during it I did think it a few times, what have I done here?” Cherry-Evans said with a laugh.
“It was bloody hard, but it is something I am hoping we can lean on during the season because it was pretty tough both mentally and physically for everyone involved.
“It was a great experience. I am glad I have done one now in my footy career. I can say I have done an Army camp, but I’m not interested in doing any more.”
