Daly Cherry-Evans has already helped James Tedesco. Another Rooster will benefit more

1 month ago 4

Daly Cherry-Evans has already made life easier for James Tedesco at the Sydney Roosters by helping him out with leadership.

But the one Rooster who will be the biggest winner from the former Manly captain’s move to Bondi Junction is playmaker Sam Walker.

Roosters skipper James Tedesco at Bondi Beach on Tuesday.

Cherry-Evans posed for plenty of photos on a warm Tuesday morning as the Roosters held a training session at Bondi Beach.

The club wanted to encourage locals to return to the iconic location, where 15 people were killed during the December 14 shootings.

The sight of Cherry-Evans wearing the Roosters’ red, white and blue, not Manly’s maroon and white, is one rival fans better get used to – and one Walker has certainly welcomed.

Walker, 23, said he had already learned so much from 36-year-old Cherry-Evans. The pair will be given a licence to roam this season, Walker said, and nothing was stopping the pair from swapping in and out of the halfback role during games.

Daly Cherry-Evans takes a stroll on Bondi Beach with his daughter, Tully (white singlet).

Some of the performances by Walker at the back end of last season, when he made a belated return from knee surgery, were phenomenal.

And with a full pre-season behind him, and valuable time getting to know Cherry-Evans, their chemistry will be one of the most intriguing storylines of 2026.

“He’s such a good man and such an easy person to talk to, I’ve enjoyed picking his brain, what he’s thinking about in certain situations, and what he would do in certain moments,” Walker said of the former Queensland Maroons skipper.

“He’s captained at the highest level, so his leadership and understanding of how he can have an impact on a certain training session or in a game, not just with the way he plays, but with his leadership, it’s special, and something I’m learning.

Skipper James Tedesco takes part in a beach session at Bondi on Tuesday.

“We’re starting to build a nice combination. The next few weeks before the trials are crucial, and we’ll work out what we’re going to do [in terms of who wears the No. 7], but our roles will be pretty interchangeable. We both want to be able to move around and play on both sides.

“He just has this very calm presence, which makes me confident doing my own job.”

Cherry-Evans played a club record 352 games for Manly, captained the Sea Eagles for nearly a decade, and also led Queensland to Origin glory, before signing with the Roosters.

Tedesco said Cherry-Evans’ communication skills had assisted him, and the arrival of such an experienced campaigner at the back end of his career made it easy to draw comparisons to Cooper Cronk, a Melbourne favourite who moved to the Roosters in 2018.

“I’m not the main voice, ‘Cherry’ has been a captain of his state and team for a long time now, and the way he’s able to get a message across very clearly, and calmly, to the team, it’s something we’ve all noticed and enjoyed so far,” Tedesco said.

The Roosters bombed out in week one of the finals, but have added Cherry-Evans to their roster, along with NSW Origin hooker Reece Robson, while prop Naufahu Whyte and returning rugby powerhouse Mark Nawaqanitawase were standout performers in their respective positions last year.

Nawaqanitawase will exit the Roosters at season’s end and take up a lucrative contract in Japanese rugby, worth more than $1m a season, before focusing on the Wallabies and their World Cup campaign on home soil next year.

Tedesco said Nawaqanitawase grew in confidence with each performance, but he would need to improve again now that rivals know what to expect.

“He was a bit of an unknown last year, nobody knew how he was going to play or what he offered, but even with that extra bit of attention [from, opposition teams], I know he’ll have a big impact,” Tedesco said.