Manly Sea Eagles

The right boot of Daly Cherry-Evans set up an excellent win for Manly against Canberra.

Cherry-Evans reminds fans why Meninga considers him the premier No.7, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Corey Harawira-Naera also landed in hot water for a crusher tackle on Olakau’atu, and will be keen to not miss next weekend’s clash against the Storm in Wagga., register or subscribe to save articles for later.Christian Nicolussi covers rugby league for The Sydney Morning Herald. Daly Cherry-Evans did his best to remind fans why he remains the premier No.7 in the game with an outstanding kicking display in Mudgee.The right boot of the Sea Eagles skipper proved the difference against Canberra as his side skipped away in the second half to triumph 25-6.Cherry-Evans came up with a rare 20/40, launched a 40/20, which led to a Tom Trbojevic try, then landed his 25th career field goal with three minutes remaining to seal the result.The halfback’s kicking game also led to tries for Morgan Harper and Haumole Olakau’atu.Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said of Cherry-Evans’ performance: “If I’m the Manly boss, Scott Penn, I’d be going down to put a fresh bunch of flowers on Bob Fulton’s grave every day.Daly Cherry-Evans’ boot proved the difference as Manly triumphed in Mudgee.“It was the smartest play that club has ever made, which was pinching him back off the Titans and offering him $1m [a season] for 10 years.“Everyone bagged ‘Bozo’ [Fulton] for it, but it was a masterstroke.”Cherry-Evans preferred to praise his teammates, but Trbojevic was more complimentary and said of the captain: “He kicked us out of trouble a lot and got us a lot of momentum on the back of his kicking game. He’s been really vocal this week, he wanted to put a performance in, and he gave us one.”One of the great positional debates as the year rolls on will be whether the Kangaroos go with incumbent Cherry-Evans or Penrith’s pin-up Nathan Cleary as their starting halfback at the World Cup.Coach Mal Meninga is renowned for his loyalty and already indicated he will stick with Cherry-Evans – and why wouldn’t you after watching the 33-year-old bamboozle the Green Machine every time he shaped to kick.Manly arrived in the state’s central west after the shock resignation of CEO Stephen Humphries and an unconvincing win over Canterbury just six days earlier.But they took an early 8-0 lead after Reuben Garrick and Harper scored in the space of four minutes.Canberra hit back through Jack Wighton whose floating bomb was dropped by Trbojevic, then made Manly pay by stepping off his left and getting past Olakau’atu to score the next set.The Raiders continued to invite Manly into the game early in the second half with Wighton and Jordan Rapana forcing silly passes early in the set, and the Sea Eagles mounted pressure.The fact Cherry-Evans had the ball on the string meant the inevitable Canberra collapse was going to happen.Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler said Cherry-Evans’ kicking game was “exceptional” and he had a brilliant knack of nailing the “clutch moments”.Manly have played on three heavy tracks the past three weeks, which does nothing for their plans to play through the middle with quick play-the-balls with Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic heavily involved.Back on a dry deck at the brilliant Glen Willow Oval would have brought a smile to coach Des Hasler’s face before kick-off.Try time: Tom Trbojevic bags a try in the 25-6 win over Canberra.Trbojevic sent a scare through the camp when he required strapping for his right leg, then winced in pain midway through the second half when his right knee was trapped by Canberra’s Matt Timoko. He later confirmed it was nothing more than a case of “grade-three carry-on”, and he would be fine for the trip to Newcastle on Thursday night.Raiders forward Hudson Young was placed on report for lifting Josh Aloiai, even though there were contributing factors with Josh Papalii in the same tackle and trying to pull Aloiai to the ground. We’re working to restore it. We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable.