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Cherry-Evans to play like a halfback wearing No. 6
Scott Bailey, AAP •  February 24th, 2026 8:39 am
Daly Cherry-Evans is wearing new colours, but he's still the same old playmaker in attack | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
Daly Cherry-Evans says it is inevitable he will play like a halfback in the Sydney Roosters' No. 6 jersey, hoping his game management can help free up Sam Walker.
Walker and Cherry-Evans offered plenty of positive signs in their first hit out together on Saturday night, with Walker starring in a pre-season loss to Parramatta.
No player in the game's history has played more NRL matches at halfback than Cherry-Evans, with all 352 of his appearances for Manly being chief organiser in that position.
New colours: Daly Cherry-Evans in red, blue and white could take some getting used to | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
The 37-year-old stayed largely on the right side and Walker the left in their 50 minutes together on Saturday, with Cherry-Evans often marshalling traffic in attack and doing the bulk of the kicking.
"Being in a new club, I'll naturally adapt to what the team needs," Cherry-Evans said.
"But I've also been playing for 15 years, so there's going to be a lot of my game that's very similar.
"I'm sure there would have been a glimpse of that (on Saturday). Some things are going to be quite consistent with the way I've played and how I can help this team.
"Yeah, I'm wearing No.6. But there's a lot of things that I need to do for this team when it comes to leading it around.
"That will stay with me, but hopefully as the year evolves we evolve as well."
Cherry-Evans' arrival has put the Roosters among the premierships favourites, with an all-star spine of himself, Walker, Reece Robson and James Tedesco.
The playmaker admitted he felt more nervous than normal headed into Saturday night's trial, but grew more comfortable as the game went on.
One thing that is obvious ahead of their March 6 season opener against the Warriors is that Cherry-Evans' arrival has the ability to free up Walker.
Cherry-Evans' arrival could help free up Sam Walker's running game | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The 23-year-old scored a try when he dummied and went himself against the Eels, and also set up two others.
"Naturally, I'm going to have that halfback mindset, that older, experienced leadership mentality," Cherry-Evans said.
"If I can have Sam Walker thinking more freely, then that's definitely part of my job.
"Let him play the way that he can play, and (Saturday) was a glimpse of that again.
"We want to get to a point where we know where the ball's going, but the opposition doesn't. And just to have a two-sided attack, that'd be great."
Walker predicted after Saturday's match it would take time for the pair to work out who took control when, but said he had already benefited from a summer with the former Queensland No.7.
"We both play that (dominant) role at certain times and we both feed off each other," he said.
"I'm picking his brain as much as possible. He's done it all in the game ... it's been really good for me.
"It doesn't have to be footy, we were just hanging out (at times).
"I asked him a lot of questions because he's done most things. There are certain scenarios in games where I want to know what he's thinking."
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