DCE insists he’s up for Origin-type challenge
DALY Cherry-evans has outlined his plan to captain Queensland until 2025 as the in-form Manly ace prepares for an Origin-style showdown with Broncos halfback rival Adam Reynolds.
Cherry-evans’s halfback tussle with the firing Reynolds will be one of the marquee personal duels of Magic Round when the Broncos and Manly face off at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Cherry-evans returns to Suncorp, the scene of his 2020 Origin heroics, in the best form of his career. His game-management and remarkable precision kicking are tributes to a 270-game veteran who now has time to make split-second decisions and has mastered the art of playmaking in the NRL.
The Maroons maestro leads the NRL for kick metres with 4090m, just 6m ahead of Reynolds (4084) as the 30something champions brace for a scrumbase tactical battle in Brisbane.
Cherry-evans turned 33 in February but Manly’s decision to hand their captain a two-year extension is evidence ‘DCE’ is confident he can emulate Maroons halfback predecessor Cooper Cronk and fire in the NRL beyond his 35th birthday.
Aside from Reynolds, Cherry-evans is equally wary of the playmaking threats gunning for his representative jumpers.
In the Test arena, Penrith maestro Nathan Cleary is eyeing off the greenand-gold No.7 jumper.
At Origin level, Queensland whiz-kid Sam Walker is on the rise at the Roosters and underlined his cool head under pressure with his matchwinning heroics to break the Broncos‘ hearts in round 5.
After three years in Origin exile, Cherry-evans has been Queensland’s No.7 mainstay since 2018 and he plans to keep it that way for another three years.
“It’s great to see other halfbacks doing well, but I’m up for the challenge,” Cherry-evans said.
“Competition is great in any walk of life and it’s certainly bringing out the best in me.
“I actually enjoy people comparing me and Nathan Cleary and I love watching him play. He’s top shelf.
“We’re at different stages of our careers, he’s got the world at his feet, but there’s a World Cup at the end of the year and that’s part of my goal.
“In terms of Origin, it’s really pleasing to see the evolution of Sam Walker. It’s important that Queensland’s stocks are healthy and it’s great to see young playmakers such as Sam and Tommy Dearden coming through.
“But their development doesn’t change the fact that I love playing for Queensland and I’m still as passionate as ever about wearing the Maroon jumper for as long as I can.”
Cherry-evans’s competitive fire has been stoked by the ultimate Origin rollercoaster ride of the past 18 months.
In November 2020, the veteran of 16 Origin games celebrated his career high point when he skippered Queensland to the biggest series boilover in interstate history as master coach Wayne Bennett returned with 14 debutants to stun the Blues.
Within eight months, Cherry-evans was digesting the pain of Queensland’s horror 2021 campaign. Under Bennett’s coaching successor Paul Green, the Maroons fell apart, suffering a record 50-6 loss in Game One in Townsville before surrendering the Origin shield with an embarrassing 26-0 shutout against a rampant NSW at Suncorp Stadium.
Cherry-evans helped engineer a facesaving 20-18 victory in Game Three, but the wounds are still raw for the Queensland skipper.
“It was a really difficult series,” Cherry-evans lamented.
“Personally, it was devastating. I went from the highs of captaining Queensland to a series win to the lows of watching NSW completely dominate
us. “We had so many dramas and things go wrong last year. We had injuries before Game One and then there was the Covid stuff (Jai Arrow’s breach, which saw him stood down for Game Three).”