Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
End of 15-year era: Manly ponder life without DCE
Scott Bailey, AAP • September 4th, 2025 4:01 pm
There'll be plenty of smiles, and tears, when Daly Cherry-Evans' time at Manly comes to an end | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Manly maintain they are well prepared for one of the biggest transition of any club's No.7 jersey in the game's history, as they prepare to farewell Daly Cherry-Evans.
The Sea Eagles have built up Friday night's clash with the Warriors as Cherry-Evans' last dance, with only a final-round miracle able to send them to the finals.
Questions over his future dominated headlines this year, since the moment he announced in March that he would be leaving Manly at season's end.
But what cannot be understated is that Cherry-Evans has had an impact on Manly far greater than any player at any club in the past two decades.
No player in NRL history has started more games at halfback for one club, with all 352 of his matches coming there since winning a premiership in his rookie 2011 season.
Daly Cherry-Evans celebrates with fans after Manly's 2011 grand final win | Photo: Renee McKay/AAP
In his 15 campaigns at Manly Cherry-Evans has kicked 28 of the Sea Eagles' 29 field goals, the only other one coming from Jack Littlejohn in 2014.
Cherry-Evans' 28 field goals are a record for the NRL era, as are his seven golden-point winners.
So much has he been at the centre of Manly's attack for 15 years, the 36-year-old has had more than 18,000 touches of the ball, set up 319 tries and scored 98.
And for the first time since 1987, Manly will now enter the 2026 season without a Sea Eagles premiership winner on their books.
Manly will have Canberra's Jamal Fogarty in No.7 next year, with the half of this year's minor premiers a fair start.
But still, a significant change is coming.
"Can you replace Chez? No, you can't," Manly coach Anthony Seibold conceded on Thursday.
"That's the reality. He's been the halfback here for 15 seasons.
"But we feel we've got a really good replacement in Jamal ... We've got young Joey Walsh coming through.
"And we do have some really good emerging leaders coming through."
Walsh's debut off the bench on Friday will provide that eye to the future, with plans to play the 19-year-old for at least 10 minutes alongside Cherry-Evans.
Fogarty and Luke Brooks will start 2026 as Manly's halves, but Seibold intends on blooding Walsh more after a year being mentored by Cherry-Evans and Brooks.
"I think there's a long career ahead," Cherry-Evans said of Walsh this week.
"He wants to learn, he's humble and he's got great work ethic. Those three things in particular are going to set up most people to have a good career.
"And then I can see the ability is there as well."
Other questions loom at Manly, with Seibold under pressure through the second half of the year.
Daly Cherry-Evans and Anthony Seibold talk tactics during a Manly training session at 4 Pines Park | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
The man once identified to replace him, Michael Ennis, will leave his consultancy role at year's end, keen to take on a full-time assistant job the Sea Eagles couldn't offer.
Manly would need to flog the Warriors, have the Sydney Roosters be trounced by South Sydney and the Dolphins lose to an undermanned Raiders to play finals.
"The reality is there's a bigger picture here," Seibold said.
"For whatever reason our club hasn't been able to make back-to-back finals since 2013-2014.
"There's a holistic reflection that needs to occur post-season, and then we'll look within ourselves as well at what we could have done different and better."
