Milestone man Cherry-Evans stars as Manly lick Dolphins
Darren Walton |
Refusing to give up on their flickering finals hopes, Manly have celebrated Daly Cherry-Evans’ 350th NRL game in grand style with a 58-30 victory over the demoralised Dolphins in Sydney.
Fittingly, as Cherry-Evans became only the fifth man to reach the magical milestone, the veteran halfback had a hand or boot in five of Manly’s 10 tries in Saturday’s rout in front of a packed home crowd at Brookvale Oval.
Deputising for injured goalkicker Reuben Garrick, Cherry-Evans also slotted nine conversions for an 18-point personal haul in a rousing all-round nine-out-of-10 display from the 36-year-old.
And silencing any talk of dressing-room dissent ahead of the former Queensland State of Origin captain’s mooted move to the Sydney Roosters in 2026, Cherry-Evans’ heavyweight teammates also stood up.
Superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic bagged two tries as well as setting up three more in an attacking masterclass, while Cherry-Evans’ halves partner Luke Brooks also crossed for a double – his first in a decade.
The Sea Eagles’ big day came as Cherry-Evans joined all-time greats Cameron Smith (430), Cooper Cronk (372), Darren Lockyer (355) and Terry Lamb (350) as the only players in premiership history to rack up 350 first-grade games.
Already Manly’s most-capped player, “DCE” also eclipsed club legend Steve Menzies’ 349 appearances for the Sea Eagles and one-time joint-venture Northern Eagles.
Still needing a miracle to make the finals, the 28-point win kept the 10th-placed Eagles in with a mathematical chance of scraping into the playoffs if Anthony Seibold’s side can beat the Warriors and St George Illawarra in their remaining two games.
“We’ve got the slimmest of chances but sometimes that’s all you need in footy,” Cherry-Evans said.
“It’s just a little bit of hope and we played like the shackles are off today and there was nothing to lose.
“So I’m really proud and really grateful the boys stood up to make it a special day.
“It was just a great day overall.”
For the Dolphins, it looks a case of new coach but same old outcome.
After looking top-eight bound under Wayne Bennett in their first two seasons only to fade from contention, the “Phins” have now lost three straight games to slip to ninth on the ladder under Kristian Woolf.
Like Manly, the Dolphins must win their last two matches, against Gold Coast and Canberra, and have other results go their way to have any chance of featuring in the finals.
Early on, the Dolphins looked hungry to crash Cherry-Evans’ party when Isaiya Katoa – the superstar halfback reportedly set to become rugby league’s first two-million-dollar man – put back-rower Kulikefu Finefeuiaki over in just the second minute.
Matt Lodge accepted a nice ball from Trbojevic to put the Eagles back on level terms shortly after before Jeremy Marshall-King darted over from dummy-half to restore the visitors’ six-point advantage.
The rest of the first half was all Manly as the home team ran in three tries in 13 minutes to jump out to a 22-12 lead at the break.
First Brooks’ desperate chase paid off from a routine Cherry-Evans bomb on halfway.
Then a Trbojevic cut-out pass sent Lehi Hopoate sailing down the left sideline to score before the winger broke free again a minute later to set up Manly’s fourth try to interchange forward Ethan Bullemor.
Trbojevic served up a second try for Hopoate straight after the interval to continue the onslaught.
Ben Trbojevic was Manly’s fifth different tryscorer, minutes before man-of-the-moment Cherry-Evans put Tommy “Turbo” over for his deserved first four-pointer to put the game beyond the Dolphins’ reach.
AAP
