{"id":86786,"date":"2025-08-22T05:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86786\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T05:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T05:58:09","slug":"dce-is-a-rugby-league-great-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86786\/","title":{"rendered":"DCE is a rugby league great. The end"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 350 games, DCE has turned in maybe 25 poor ones, of which 10 have come this year. He\u2019s got excuses. His awful TV appearance came a day after Taniela Paseka ruptured his Achilles, which had a bigger impact on Manly\u2019s season. This month, DCE has been playing behind a pack consisting of Jazz Tevaga, Ben Trbojevic, Corey Waddell, Matthew Lodge, Jake Simpkin and Sio Siua Taukeiaho, triers and veterans, but Andrew Johns at his best couldn\u2019t have got that team into the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Since the dramatic decline of Tom Trbojevic\u2019s form, moreover, Manly\u2019s \u2018premiership window\u2019 has been exposed as a myth created by people who hadn\u2019t been watching them very closely.<\/p>\n

Only two Manly players can be said to have improved this year: Haumole Olakau\u2019atu, one of the best edge forwards in the world and Manly\u2019s only dependable attacking option (but injured now), and Tolu Koula, who\u2019s risen from a good centre to a potentially great one. For the rest, Burbo has advanced from a reserve-grader to a borderline first-grader. And that\u2019s it. As for the coach, who would want to play for someone who aspires to be the office manager?<\/p>\n

\"Kieran<\/p>\n

Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans arrive at the Manly Leagues Club with the NRL trophy in 2011.Credit: Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

Anyway, that\u2019s the Bradman\u2019s duck side of things. Ugly, shocking, and the sooner it\u2019s put into perspective the better.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture is the career. For the Sea Eagles, ever since the Turbo model of 2019 and 2021 came apart, Cherry-Evans has held the rest together.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Manly overachieved by making the second week of the finals, in large part thanks to DCE\u2019s kicking game and onfield generalship. He gave Luke Brooks scope to play his best football. He put enough kicks and passes Jason Saab\u2019s way to convince someone that Saab was more than just a track sprinter with a track sprinter\u2019s football skills.<\/p>\n

His leadership covered over the empty space in the coaching box, just like it had for 15 years of previous coaches. Manly\u2019s results in the DCE period, starting with their 2011 premiership in his debut year, created a helpful diversion from the ownership vacuum that periodically blew its breezy nothingness through the revolving door of the front office.<\/p>\n

\"Daly<\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans after signing his 10-year deal with Manly in 2015.Credit: Dallas Kilponen<\/p>\n

Even if he never quite conveyed a genuine belief that his team could win another premiership \u2013 he\u2019s DCE, not JC \u2013 he steered a mostly okay roster to outcomes that were mostly better than okay. Until this year, Manly under DCE were an industrious team with one big flaw (they tended to throw away winning leads) balanced by one big virtue (they hardly ever got blown off the park). He led a well-run team in a poorly-run club, which should make him the envy of half the NRL.<\/p>\n

The glass half-full version: 350 games in 15 years and just 23 missed with injury, a freakish achievement for a small man tackling waves of big men. Eight finals campaigns, one premiership, one losing grand final in which he won the Clive Churchill Medal.<\/p>\n

Ninety-seven tries, 187 goals, 28 field goals of which most were match-winners, an uncountable number of try assists and 40\/20s. Twenty-one Test matches, 26 Origins. Most fans understand the career accomplishment, and they\u2019ll show their appreciation.<\/p>\n

The glass half-empty is for those who think they\u2019re in a personal relationship with a rugby league player. He\u2019s not everyone\u2019s cup of tea. He\u2019s a bit slippery, a bit plasticky, and the only more unpalatable club he could be moving to is the Storm (but Craig Bellamy\u2019s too smart). Cherry-Evans might have wrecked a season (which was probably going nowhere). Having covered over club dysfunction for so long, he might have walked out at the worst possible moment (the latest in a decade\u2019s worth of worst possible moments).<\/p>\n

\"Daly<\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans celebrates with the shield after winning game three last year.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s any cold comfort for those feeling betrayed, it\u2019s in a declining Cherry-Evans ending up at the Chooks, who in 2025, having kicked the compulsion to shop, are having an excellent season with mostly home-grown talent. Cherry-Evans looms for the Roosters like an ice-cold beer for a reformed alcoholic. We\u2019ve done so well, and it\u2019s only one drink\u2026<\/p>\n

On balance, Daly Cherry-Evans has given Manly enough. More than enough. But that\u2019s a sober assessment, easier to make when the player is the dumpee (Adam Reynolds gave Souths more than enough; Clint Gutherson gave Parramatta more than enough) than when he\u2019s the dumper (Jack Wighton, anyone?). When it\u2019s a messy split and the player is the dumper, balance and sobriety are not what\u2019s closest to hand.<\/p>\n

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For a player who has projected a certain aloofness, it\u2019s remarkable that Cherry-Evans\u2019s actions get taken so personally. Maybe that\u2019s just the price he has to bear. I suspect that once the emotions subside, the career will be measured at its true weight. Manly legends Bob Fulton and Paul Vautin also jagged well-paid semi-retirements at the Roosters, a fun fact only worth mentioning because it\u2019s so easily forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 350 games, DCE has turned in maybe 25 poor ones, of which 10 have come this year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-86786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}