{"id":944754,"date":"2026-10-29T04:42:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T04:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944754\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T04:42:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T04:42:42","slug":"its-done-cherry-evans-rules-out-roosters-comeback-illawarra-mercury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944754\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s done’: Cherry-Evans rules out Roosters comeback | Illawarra Mercury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheThe grand final win over Newcastle marked Daly Cherry-Evans’ farewell game for the Roosters. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n

Without making any promises, Daly Cherry-Evans has ruled out a second season at the Sydney Roosters, while backing the NRL premiers’ hardline stance against Sam Walker.<\/p>\n

Bound for the English Super League, Cherry-Evans insists he has not fielded any phone calls from Roosters coach Trent Robinson or chairman Nick Politis in the wake of the club pulling its multi-million-dollar deal to Walker to remain beyond 2027.<\/p>\n

But even if he does, the 37-year-old won’t be answering any potential SOS call from the Tricolours.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter his glittering 16-season NRL career, Daly Cherry-Evans is heading to the English Super League. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“No, it’s all done. It’s all done,” Cherry-Evans said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Look, I’m so proud of my time at the Roosters, but you won’t be seeing me back there as a player.”<\/p>\n

Asked if he promised, the veteran playmaker said “No”, but maintained he was content with ending his 16-season NRL career as it started, with a second premiership to go with his 2011 triumph with Manly.<\/p>\n

Speaking from experience, having reneged on a lucrative 10-year deal to join Gold Coast to remain at Manly early in his career, Cherry-Evans said he didn’t find Walker’s situation sad at all.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Walker and Daly Cherry-Evans with the trophy after the Roosters’ grand final win. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“Maybe I’m a little too emotionless with these things,” he said after launching a specially designed range of VB premiership cans at Easts Leagues Club.<\/p>\n

“It’s the game, it’s the business. I really admire the way that the Roosters have stood their ground on what they believe to be right for the club.<\/p>\n

“That’s one thing that has really shone through at my time here, is that they will put the club first over any one individual.<\/p>\n

“And then from my point of view on Sam, Sam’s doing what’s best for him and his family and his future, so that’s the thing within all of this is – no one’s actually done anything wrong.<\/p>\n

\"DespiteDespite a premiership-winning season, Sam Walker may have played his last game for the Roosters. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“Yeah, the emotions get really high and we all want to see people stay and we don’t want to see people leave, and I get it, but at the end of the day, no one’s doing anything wrong here.<\/p>\n

“This is just a contract negotiation.”<\/p>\n

Cherry-Evans said, as good mates, he’d been in contact this week with Walker, who is in World Cup camp with the Kangaroos in Townsville, and revealed that his grand final-winning halves partner is remaining positive.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to rattle Sammy, or maybe he’ll never let you know how much he is stressed or not doing OK,” Cherry-Evans said.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter his heroics with the Roosters, Sam Walker has hit the ground running with the Kangaroos. (Matt Roberts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“But from what I understand in my conversations with him, he’s going well. He’s got good family and friends around him.<\/p>\n

“I would back Sam to have a really long career in the NRL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We all wanted to see it happen at the Roosters and I’m sure there’s a chance it could happen and still happen, but it’s a game, it’s a business.<\/p>\n

“I know we’d love to see our players play for one club, but the likelihood and the reality of that, it just doesn’t happen often anymore.”<\/p>\n

If the Roosters do release Walker from the remaining year of his contract as the Queensland and new Australian representative becomes a free agent on Sunday, youngster Toby Rodwell is being earmarked as the likely No.7 replacement.<\/p>\n

“I love Toby Rodwell, and I think he’s got a great future ahead,” Cherry-Evans said.<\/p>\n

“But I’m not playing hypotheticals with you.”<\/p>\n

Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grand final win over Newcastle marked Daly Cherry-Evans’ farewell game for the Roosters. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-944754","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\/944754","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=944754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}