Daly Cherry-Evans was still doing his bit for Manly just a few weeks ago

3 months ago 11

A few weeks ago, before he put pen to paper with the Sydney Roosters, Daly Cherry-Evans was still doing his bit for Manly.

The Manly champion was unveiled in Roosters colours for the first time on Thursday, but made a point of remaining in contact with his eventual No. 7 successor at the Sea Eagles, Joey Walsh.

The pair even caught up a handful of times at the local park at Curl Curl, where both players reside, and kicked the ball around.

At 19, Walsh is likely to start next season in NSW Cup, or with a bit of luck on the NRL bench. Canberra recruit Jamal Fogarty and Luke Brooks will be the starting halves.

But with Cherry-Evans’ priceless advice, the chance to learn under Fogarty, and new assistant coach Kieran Foran, Walsh – the first homegrown playmaker since Foran – knows he will be given every chance to succeed, and maybe even enjoy a 15-season career at the club like Cherry-Evans.

Walsh, who was plucked from under the nose of Rugby Australia, spent time in the Sydney Roosters’ system, and attracted interest from the Bulldogs and Dolphins. He told this masthead how grateful he was to have someone like Cherry-Evans on speed dial.

“He’s been unreal to me, when he was here he taught me so much, and we still keep in touch – he’s always made time for me,” Walsh said.

“We only met up a couple of weeks before returning to pre-season training. We had a kick on the ovals near us. We live locally, so it was handy.

“He taught me so many lessons, but the key one was to keep trusting your instincts. The structure of the game will come, he said, but I need to stick to my instinctive game because that is what got me here.”

Walsh made his debut in Cherry-Evans’ farewell game in the final round against the New Zealand Warriors. He said that cameo had only made him more confident around the big boys at training.

Joey Walsh gets in the reps at Manly training on Friday.

Onitoni Large is another young Manly playmaker, but considered 12 months behind Walsh in his own journey.

Coach Anthony Seibold said it was impossible to ignore Walsh had only played about 15 games of rugby league last year after he had spent the previous couple of years devoted to union. But being struck down by glandular fever after Christmas, which left him eight kilos lighter and unable to take part in any of the trials, stunted his 2025 preparations.

“We anticipate Jamal and ‘Brooksy’ will be the starting halves at the start of the year but what we want from Joey is to push into that 17; we want him competing hard for a spot,” Seibold said.

“We have really high hopes he’ll be a consistent NRL player in the future, but he’s only 19, and it’s our job to make sure we keep giving him the opportunity to push for a starting position.

“He’s a good person away from footy, he’s well respected in the area, he’s a humble and a hard-working guy from a wonderful family – he’s really coachable.

“When I caught up with Joey and ‘Foz’ [Foran] last week, I said to Joey, ‘mate, what I’m hoping for is when you play your 100th game for Manly, you’re thanking Foz for all the work he has done with you’. That would be a really nice situation in however many years time down the track.”

Fogarty will start training with his new club on Monday. Jake and Tom Trbojevic, Brooks and Brisbane premiership winner Kobe Hetherington will be back on deck in the coming weeks.

Viliame Fifita has returned home after a short stint with St George Illawarra, Josh Feledy is also back on the beaches after a few seasons at Wests Tigers, while Seibold has high hopes for 19-year-old prop Simione Laiafi, as well as 200cm outside back, Nav Willett, who caught the eye in last year’s trials.