DALY A DILEMMA FOR QUEENSLAND
MANLY did it without Daly, but can Queensland?
The Maroons’ captaincy debate took another twist, this time a cruel one, when Daly Cherry-Evans came from the field with an ankle injury in yesterday’s brave 24-20 victory over Canberra at a noisy Brookvale Oval.
Cherry-Evans will have scans on his right ankle today for possible syndesmosis. It is feared he could miss up to 10 weeks.
The Sea Eagles remain hopeful of having their skipper back in two to three weeks, but there is the potential for Cherry-Evans’ stint on the sideline to be much longer, which would be shattering for Manly and Queensland.
Cherry-Evans collapsed to the ground after a heavy collision with Canberra forward Elliott Whitehead in the 48th minute.
He stayed down for two minutes, wincing in pain, before walking from the field for treatment.
“You don’t like to see any player go down, particularly Cherry,” Manly coach Des Hasler said.
“He is a pretty tough customer and he would have hated more having to come off than the actual injury.”
Cherry-Evans watched the final 32 minutes from Manly’s player enclosure at Brookvale with ice strapped to his ankle.
Curtis Sironen shifted into five-eighth.
The Maroons have already lost incumbent skipper Greg Inglis to retirement, while Cherry-Evans joins fellow captaincy candidate Jake Friend on the injury list.
The Maroons’ short list is shortening by the day. North Queensland duo Michael Morgan and Matt Scott are now the likely front-runners to lead them into next month’s Origin opener.