Cherry-Evans claims he is the victim of an ‘ugly and nasty’ smear campaign
Daly Cherry-Evans claims he has been the victim of an “ugly and nasty” smear campaign, but says fans showed they saw through it during Manly’s 26-12 defeat of Parramatta.
Six days after announcing his impending Manly exit, Cherry-Evans led the Sea Eagles to second on the NRL ladder on Sunday with their third win in four games.
The victory came at a serious cost, with Tom Trbojevic suffering a suspected medial ligament tear in his left knee that is expected to sideline him for around five weeks.
Tom Trbojevic of the Sea Eagles looks on during the round four NRL match between Manly Sea Eagles and Parramatta Eels at 4 Pines Park, on March 30, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Getty Images: Matt King)
The Sea Eagles captain received a huge cheer from the Brookvale Oval crowd as he led the team out on Sunday afternoon and produced a professional performance in the 14-point win.
But all the focus was still on the saga between club and player, with Cherry-Evans claiming he knows who is behind what he claims is a smear campaign against him.
“I know who it’s coming from, and it’s not appropriate to talk about it,” Cherry-Evans said at the post-match press conference.
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“There was a fair bit spoken after the announcement was made on Monday night.
“I feel like it could have ended pretty quickly early in the week, but it obviously didn’t.
“Which means conversations were continuing to happen outside of the ones happening between the club and I.
“That’s where I felt like it got a bit nasty and a bit ugly.”
In the six days since Cherry-Evans’s announcement, the halfback has knocked back a two-year deal worth $1.4 million from Manly.
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It has also emerged that he requested a release from the club at the end of 2023, along with details of Manly’s discussions with the halfback at the end of last year.
Cherry-Evans admitted he had been hurt by the fallout after so long with the club.
Speaking to ABC Sport after the match, Cherry-Evans was asked about the speculation he wanted to leave the club because of the money they offered.
“We’ll find out if I sign another deal. If it’s not for more money, that might be a telling sign in where this all lays,” Cherry-Evans said.
“There’s obviously been a really big narrative pushed in the media that it was all about a two-year deal, and the money wasn’t enough. Only time will tell if that is true or not.”
Meanwhile, the New Zeland Warriors achieved a third straight win, with a late penalty goal securing a 26-24 victory over Wests Tigers.
Rain fell during much of the game at Campbelltown Stadium as the sides traded scores throughout the contest.
Neither side held a lead of greater than six points, and we locked at 24-all inside the final 10 minutes.
A long-range penalty goal from Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf in the 73rd minute is ultimately what split the sides.
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Update
That is all for the blog tonight
Round four of the 2025 National Rugby League season is over — and it was dramatic.
The Daly Cherry-Evans saga with his club dominated the headlines, the Broncos silenced the Dolphins at Lang Park, the Storm and Panthers lost — and the Canterbury Bulldogs are the last remaining undefeated team.
ABC Sport will continue its live digital coverage in round five, when the Canberra Raiders host the Cronulla Sharks on Thursday evening.
Until then, you can get all your latest sport news on the ABC Sport website or through the ABC News App
Goodnight,
Listen to Daly Cherry-Evans’s full ABC Sport interview
He’s been at the centre of the NRL news cycle all week, but Daly Cherry-Evans was still happy to talk to ABC Sport’s John Gibbs after leading his side to a win over the Eels.
He talked about how the week has been, how there might be more information to come out and confirmed he wants to keep playing next season.
Metcalf joins ABC Sport after kicking match-winning goal
The Warriors defeated the Tigers 26-24 at Campbelltown.
Warriors’ halfback Luke Metcalf broke the deadlock late with a 40-metre penalty goal to secure the two-point win.
Metcalf told ABC Sport the Warriors’ sideline wanted the team to kick for touch, but he was certain he could kick the goal in wet conditions.
“No hesitation in my mind. Take the two and defend it,” he says.
FULL-TIME: New Zealand Warriors def. Wests Tigers 24
— reporting with AAP
Luke Metcalf’s late penalty goal has sealed a 26-24 win for the Warriors that breaks both the Wests Tigers’ hearts and their NRL winning streak.
Eyeing their first three-game winning run in seven years, the three-time reigning wooden spooners shook off game-day injuries to Adam Doueihi (groin) and Samuela Fainu (knee) to take an unlikely six-point lead during Sunday’s second half in rainy Campbelltown.
But when Leka Halasima beat Jahream Bula and Jack Bird on a 70-metre tear down the right edge, the Warriors had levelled the scores as the final 10 minutes approached.
The Tigers had been the more clinical side once in position and so would’ve liked their chances to land a killer blow, until their second-rower Alex Seyfarth hit Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad high with eight minutes to play.
New Warriors halfback Metcalf stepped up and landed a penalty goal from 40 metres in front in greasy conditions, with Nicoll-Klokstad booed by the local crowd thereafter.
The win is the Warriors’ third on the bounce, leaving a horror round-one loss to Canberra in Las Vegas as a distant memory.
The Tigers lost Doueihi in the warm-up and then Fainu during the first half, leaving them with an entirely second-choice left edge for the majority of the game after Jeral Skelton (hamstring) was ruled out during the week.
But just as the Warriors looked ready to capitalise, star recruit Terrell May came up with his biggest play in a Tigers jersey yet to swing Sunday’s contest back to the home side.
Having scored with their first set after the break, the Warriors came within inches of going up by two tries when Bunty Afoa crashed over at close range early in the second half.
May left all to continue wondering how the Sydney Roosters let him go when he held the big man up.
Warriors half Metcalf passed the ball into touch on the next play and with the Tigers’ next possession, they marched upfield to equalise.
Lachie Galvin put boot to ball on a kick for back-up winger Solomona Faataape and, in the set after points, Latu Fainu strolled through Afoa and Leka Halasima to give the Tigers the lead.
But Halasima’s try on the back of a Taine Tuaupiki offload deflated the Tigers, who blew a late chance to steal victory when Faataape kicked the ball into touch working down the left.
Tigers superstar Jarome Luai could face scrutiny for the match review committee for hitting Edward Kosi high early in the second half.
78′ Tiger suffers a brain fade
Winger Solomona Faataape has attempted a low percentage play, and it has not worked.
The Tigers were deep in their own territory with the clock winding down when Jarome Luai saw space in behind the defence.
He put in a grubber, inside his own 20-metre line, and Solomona Faataape is charging to it.
Faataape gets their first and just needs to dive on the ball. It would have been the third tackle at half-way.
But Faataape soccer-kicks it off the ground and it flies off the side of his boot and into touch.
That could be the final chance the Tigers get.
73′ PENALTY GOAL: Warriors take the lead with a long-range kick
Luke Metcalf has kicked a 40-metre penalty goal to take the lead for the Warriors, 26-24.
The ball never looked like missing off the boot.
The Warriors were given the penalty after Tigers’ second-rower
Alex Seyfarth hit the Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad with a high tackle.
Seyfarth is on report.
70′ TRY: Warriors go 70 metres to score
Brilliant from the Warriors. They have scored a terrific long-range try to level this game.
The Warriors went down the short side because they saw a three-on-two overlap.
Leka Halasima got the ball on the wing with 70 metres to the goal line, and he put the foot down.
He beat the cover defence, then beat attempted tackles from Jahream Bula and Jack Bird to score.
It is 24-all with 10 minutes to play.
67′ NO TRY: Obstruction call cruels Tigers
Wests Tigers fans thought they had wrapped up this match with a try to Jahream Bula.
But the ref immediately calls for the Bunker, and with good reason.
Decoy runner Starford To’a took out Warriors five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita, which created the gap that Bula ran through.
62′ NO TRY: Offside call denies Warriors
Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has been denied a try after the Bunker deemed he was in front of the kicker.
Winger Taine Tuaupiki made a run for the corner, but was tackled and was sliding towards the sideline.
Tuaupiki threw the ball back infield, which hit the foot of a Warrior and went forward into the in-goal.
Nicoll-Klokstad, who was in an offside position when the ball came off the foot, grounded the ball.
61′ Tensions starting to boil over as game goes down to the wire
We are starting to get some pushing and shoving in this match.
The first melee started after Tigers’ interchange Latu Fainu essentially produced a shoulder charge to the legs of Mitchell Barnett.
Sixty seconds later, some of the big boys from both sides decided to exchange a jersey tug.
The ref has words with both captains, and we continue with this thoroughly entertaining match.
57′ NO TRY: Terrell May has minor knock-on trying to ground ball
The New Zealand Warriors can breathe a sigh of relief.
Terrell May, with several Warriors holding him up, planted the ball down for what we thought was the Tigers fifth try of the night.
But the Bunker has found a knock-on by May, trying to ground the ball.
It wasn’t hard to find. It was a stone-cold drop.
53′ TRY: Tigers go bang, BANG
Terrific from Wests Tigers.
They have their first lead of the night as they march down the field off a kick-off and score.
Latu Fainu received the ball 12 metres from the Warriors’ goal line, and he saw a little hole in the defence and charged towards it.
It was poor defensive structure from the Warriors, and Fainu made them pay.
Latu Fainu was a very late inclusion into the 17-man team after Adam Doueihi pulled out in the lead up to kick-off.
50′ TRY: Tigers respond again with third try
Any time the Warriors score, the Tigers have responded with one of their own.
Solomona Faataape chased down a pinpoint grubber kick from five-eighth Lachie Galvin to score.
Coach Benji Marshall will be very happy with that try.
The play involved Api Koroisau, Jarome Luai and Lachie Galvin all touching the ball, and having an impact.
Koroisau hits the conversion sweetly, and we are locked at 18-all.
46′ Jarome Luai on report for high tackle
Wests star recruit Jarome Luai may have some issues with the match review committee.
He has been put on report for a high tackle on Edward Kosi.
It was direct head contact with the shoulder. It did not look good. Luai may have a case to answer for that.
Kosi has gone off for a head injury assessment.
42′ TRY: Warriors make the perfect start to second half
Excellent from the New Zealand Warriors.
Hooker Wayde Egan runs from dummy half and throws a dummy, and he is through.
Egan gets a one-handed offload to five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita, who takes five steps and then passes to fellow half Luke Metcalf, who finishes off the try.
Where will DCE end up? Offsiders
Listen to the full ABC Sport interview with Manly’s CEO
The saga surrounding Daly Cherry-Evans exploded this week with confirmation that this would be his last year at Brookvale Oval.
But CEO Tony Mestrov said they had known he was likely to leave the club since last December.
Listen to the full discussion, which happened prior to this afternoon’s match, in the link below.
HT: Wests Tigers and New Zealand Warriors level 12-all
The Tigers and Warriors are all-square at half-time following a very good 40 minutes of play.
Despite the rain, both sides have managed a pair of converted tries each, and produced some nice attacking rugby league.
This match is poised beautifully.
39′ TRY: Tigers strike before half-time
Great footy from Wests Tigers, and they have responded well to score their second try.
Starford To’a scores the try, but it was the linebreak from Alex Seyfarth which set up the try.
Lachie Glavin, the Tigers five-eighth, had a little pump fake and then threw a short pass too Seyfarth who burst through a gap.
Warriors centre Adam Pompey made the wrong defensive read, and that created the hole.
Seyfarth was cool under pressure, drew in the fullback, and passed to his right winger for the try.
