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Daly Cherry-Evans was at least two moves ahead of every Bulldogs player on the park as Manly dismantled their disorganised opponents 42-24 at Accor Stadium on Sunday to make Canterbury’s 2023 campaign an even more disappointing affair.
The Sea Eagles skipper called the shots throughout the ho-hum contest in front of a near empty stadium with both teams out of finals contention.
DCE scored a try, had another disallowed, and booted six conversions in a personal haul of 16 points as the visitors converted a 16-6 half-time advantage into an emphatic triumph.
Cherry-Evans sent a late-season reminder to Australia’s Test selectors that he is still ready to challenge for the No.7 jersey after Nathan Cleary got the nod ahead of him at the World Cup last year.
Manly are stuck in 12th spot on the ladder no matter what happens in the final round of the season while the Bulldogs are consigned to 15th but will finish with the worst defensive numbers in the NRL after going past 700 to 733 in their latest capitulation, nearly a hundred points more than the 16th-ranked Dragons.
Daly Cherry-Evans scores. (Photo by Izhar Khan/Getty Images)
Canterbury fans have every right to feel aggrieved with their club’s performance this season in the first year under coach Cameron Ciraldo.
They have spent lavishly on recruits over the past three years but have never looked like finishing anywhere near the top eight all season.
The Dogs opened the scoring when Blake Wilson broke free to send Corey Waddell over but Manly quickly gained the ascendancy with Jason Saab, Toafofoa Sipley and Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega crossing in the opening half.
Haumole Olakau’atu and DCE sealed the result inside the first 15 minutes of the second half as Manly went 28-6 up – the skipper sprinted out of dummy-half and raced 40 metres to score.
Canterbury centre Jake Averillo’s try off a loose pass against the run of play stemmed the bleeding for the home side.
Sea Eagles hooker Lachlan Croker barged over and Saab notched his second as a 50-point total beckoned before Kyle Flanagan and Toby Sexton crossed to give Canterbury some light consolation on the scoreboard in the final 10 minutes.
Such was the care factor in this match, Cherry-Evans opted to give debutant back-up hooker Gordon Chan Kum Tong a souvenir by letting him kick a penalty goal in the dying stages.
DCE conceded the Australian jersey is a motivating factor even though Cleary is likely to retain the spot for the end-of-season Tests.
“I definitely came back (from the World Cup) extremely motivated that I had lost the Australian halfback jersey. So that’s definitely fuelled this season,” Cherry-Evans said.
“No doubt about it. If I get dropped, I want to get back in there. I’m always always ambitious to play rep footy.
“But I do understand where I stand on the pecking order. Nath is probably the first priority for Australia, and I get that.”
The Manly half finished the match with 145 metres and eight tackle busts, with his only blemish an errant pass that led to Averillo’s try for the Bulldogs in the second half.
While Manly extended Josh Schuster’s $800,000 a year deal to play back row in June, Haumole Olakau’atu is clearly one of the most damaging edge forwards in the competition.
With Reuben Garrick out with a back injury, Tolu Koula was solid at fullback.
Canterbury, in contrast, were poor as their difficult season reaches a climax. They missed 44 tackles as Manly broke the line 11 times.
Matt Burton failed to find touch on a penalty kick in the plays leading up to Cherry-Evans’s try and missed a tackle on his rival captain as he crossed.
Coach Cameron Ciraldo was also left seething with players walking on kick chases, threatening to swing the axe if they do not aim up for the last week of training.
“If I get any smell that someone is not up for the game, I will find someone who is,” Ciraldo said.
“We have a Jersey Flegg crew going well and are getting ready for finals, so if there are kids in there who want to have more of a go, I will throw them in.”
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