All-American Cherry pie
Penn eyes Manly star to front league
Manly supremo Scott Penn is considering buying a stake in the proposed US league, and believes Queensland Origin star Daly Cherry-Evans could be the NRL’s version of David Beckham in America.
An “NRL America” concept is gathering steam, with Penn revealing he is open to striking affiliate links for a possible New York Eagles franchise as part of a 10-team league from 2025.
A Rugby League America consortium has held talks with ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys and will formally present at an ARLC board meeting in Vegas on Sunday.
Channel 9 kingpin Karl Stefanovic has bought an equity stake in the mooted competition, while Hollywood megastar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has been approached to headup a Hawaiian team.
Now Penn is ready to undertake due diligence on a potential feeder-club alliance with tentacles in America as his Sea Eagles prepare for Sunday’s historic clash with South Sydney in Las Vegas.
Manly majority owner and chair Penn has long held an interest in buying a stake in an American rugby league team. He revealed he had spoken to Sea Eagles skipper CherryEvans about becoming the Lionel Messi or Beckham of any new US competition.
“From an ownership point of view, it would need to stack up financially,” said Penn, who mainly lives in New York.
“From an involvement point of view and certainly using (players) … I spoke to ‘Chez’ (Cherry-Evans) about it at the time saying that maybe in a couple of years when he was in the total back end of his career, maybe that could be interesting to be the face of a team over here.
“You are seeing it here in the MLS with Messi. Beckham did it 10 years ago with Galaxy.
“To have some faces, that is what the league is going to need here – some high-profile faces to take it to the next level.”
Just turned 35, CherryEvans is off-contract next year, when an elite American league is tipped to start, and could feasibly entertain a post-NRL cameo in the US beyond his 36th birthday.
RLA consortium boss Steve Scanlan, who played in America for New Haven in 2005-06, said Cherry-Evans (pictured) would be the ideal template for a retired NRL legend shifting to America to help educate local players.
“Daly Cherry-Evans would be precisely the type of player we are looking for,” Scanlan said. “He has done it all in the NRL and in retirement here, he could be a poster boy for the game in America. “Imagine a player of Daly’s pedigree living in America and mentoring a young generation of local US kids?
“That’s what this competition is trying to achieve.
“If Daly is keen, we would love to talk to him.” Cherry-Evans, still in superb shape, has not ruled out playing beyond his current Manly deal in 2026.