{"id":906179,"date":"2026-09-26T12:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906179\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:12:19","slug":"nrl-news-2026-daly-cherry-evans-to-play-grand-final-in-last-game-for-sydney-roosters-super-league-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906179\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Daly Cherry-Evans to play grand final in last game for Sydney Roosters, Super League move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> couldn\u2019t hide his emotions as it sunk in that his 379th and final NRL appearance will come in a grand final for the Roosters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The star playmaker was vital in leading the Chooks towards a 36-20 win over the Dolphins<\/a>, who were cheered on by a stacked crowd at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"Daly<\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans is just 80 minutes away from his final Roosters game.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

The Roosters were forced to take the long road to secure their spot in the grand final, having lost the first qualifying game 19-12 against the Penrith Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the next two games against the Sharks<\/a> and Dolphins<\/a> were solid wins for the Roosters, players still had to dig deep to find the perfect formula to find victory.<\/p>\n

A number of things were motivating all competing in the preliminary final, but for Cherry-Evans the idea it could be his last time with the Roosters was front of mind.<\/p>\n

But like all class players, Cherry-Evans, who is preparing to pack up and join Hull FC in the Super League<\/a>, refused to lose focus of the job still at hand. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is special, absolutely no doubt about it,\u201d he told Nine. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I\u2019m so proud to be part of this great club and this great team, but if you ask anyone, there\u2019s still more work to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you can get caught up in how the game\u2019s played, wins or losses, but when it\u2019s all said and done, when the moments come \u2013 you have to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a hell of a lot from that first week of finals and from there, we\u2019ve really unlocked a few things. We\u2019re going in with our heads held high and chests out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old delivered a glowing review of his team\u2019s forward pack, recognising their \u201coutstanding\u201d work week-in, week-out in helping the Roosters find success.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many games of rugby league are won through the middle of the field. Our forward pack … I can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d Cherry-Evans said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been working tirelessly all year, so if we can give them opportunities, they can do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his focus is on the next game ahead, Cherry-Evans had one final message for the crowd as he bid farewell to the ground he has had great success. <\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland is a very special part of my footy career and my life, so thanks very much to everyone for your support over the years,\u201d he ended.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans speaks to Nine post-game.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

The grand final will be a full circle moment for Cherry-Evans as he played and won the premiership in his rookie season in 2011 with the Manly Sea Eagles. <\/p>\n

The decision to leave Manly at the end of last season came with the responsibility of helping the Roosters find premiership glory for the first time since 2019. <\/p>\n

In the looming grand final match, the playmaker will reach 379 NRL matches, second behind only Cameron Smith in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The Roosters will learn who their grand final opponent will be when the full-time siren sounds between the Panthers and Knights on Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daly Cherry-Evans couldn\u2019t hide his emotions as it sunk in that his 379th and final NRL appearance will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-906179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906179","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=906179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}