Just over 18 months ago, Daly Cherry-Evans was signed and sealed as the Gold Coast’s biggest ever signing. Now he's been named as Jamie Lyon’s successor as the captain of the Manly Sea Eagles.
After committing to the Titans in the March of 2015, Cherry-Evans made one of the biggest backflips in NRL history, changing his mind to sign a lifetime deal with Manly worth $10 million. The lifetime contract ensures he’ll be a Sea Eagle for life, after spending the entirety of his six season NRL career on the Northern Beaches.
Taking over from Jamie Lyon as captain are some fairly large boots to fill, especially after the former representative centre captained Manly to the 2011 premiership. In the same year that Lyon captained Manly to a premiership, Cherry-Evans would debut, eventually earning the Dally M Rooke Of The Year as well as a Kangaroos jersey in that year’s Four Nations tournament.
The Dally M Rookie Of The Year award would be the first of many accolades for Cherry-Evans, who has also picked up two RLIF Halfback Of The Year awards (2011 and 2013), a Dally M Halfback Of The Year award (2014) as well as becoming one of the rare players to win a Clive Churchill medal in a losing grand final team (2013). ‘DCE’ has also earned half a dozen Queensland jerseys along with eleven Kangaroo caps in his career, recently losing his bench utility spot to Cowboy’s five-eighth Michael Morgan.
One factor in Cherry-Evan’s favour for the captaincy is his injury record. Since debuting in Round 1 of 2011, Daly has amassed 146 NRL games, only missing ten matches in six years due to either injury or rep commitments. The fact that he’s a halfback is also a massive bonus for DCE, spending the entirety of every game on the field, in a position where he’s required to bark orders at his teammates.
Cherry-Evan’s main rival for the spot is Jake Trbojevic, a local junior. Trbojevic deputised as captain last season as Jamie Lyon spent time in the injury rehab with various hamstring issues, earning a maiden Kangaroos jersey in the Four Nations. Despite this, not consistently playing 80 minutes week-in, week-out as well as only being 22 years old have seen Trbojevic slip behind DCE in the captaincy race, though he is expected to be named co-captain with Cherry-Evans.
Daly Cherry-Evans will make his debut as Manly captain in Round 1 against rivals the Parramatta Eels at Brookvale Oval, against former teammates Clint Gutherson, James Hasson and Siosaia Vave.