The Manly halfback remained cryptic about his pending decision after the weekend’s win.
Roosters fans are still wondering why the club let go of Terrell May ahead of the 2025 season, but the rumblings around Daly Cherry-Evans leaving Manly could have been the reason. May put up staggering numbers for the Wests Tigers in their 26-24 defeat at home against the Warriors.
The new Tigers recruit played 80 minutes in the rain having ran for 202 metres and made 48 tackles. A number of superstars left the Roosters at the end of the 2024 season with Trent Robinson allowing May to negotiate with other clubs.
This was a shock move from the Roosters with May proving to be one of their most consistent forwards across the 2024 season. He had also recently just signed a two-year extension with the club.
The Wests Tigers snapped up the prop with the new recruit proving to be the buy of the season so far. And fans have been critical of the Roosters’ roster management this year with the club losing three of their opening four matches.
The signing of Chad Townsend has done little to help the club with Sam Walker out for at least half the season with an ACL injury. Although maybe there was method to the Roosters’ madness.
Cherry-Evan’s has been heavily linked with the Roosters since his announcement he won’t be at Manly in 2026. In his post-match interview on the weekend, the 36-year-old admitted he was going to do what was best for him and his young family when weighing-up his next move.
And many feel like Cherry-Evans will remain in Sydney and join the cross-city rivals on a two-year deal. Clubs like the Bulldogs have ruled themselves out of chasing Cherry-Evans because of their salary cap restraints.
But the Roosters have plenty of salary cap space after the likes of May, Joey Manu, Luke Keary and Jared Warea-Hargreaves all departed. And while the club was reported to have made a play for Ben Hunt when he went on the open market, the freeing up of cash could have been a long term play for them to sign the likes of Cherry-Evans. This is because there were rumblings Cherry-Evans was unhappy at Manly.
How and why the hell did the Sydney Roosters give this man up
Terrell May:
80 mins
19 runs for 181m
51 PCM
3 offloads
3 tackle breaks
55 tackles (1 missed)
Daly Cherry-Evans exit at Manly takes a twist
Speaking last week on his podcast, Phil Gould ruled out the Bulldogs chasing Cherry-Evans. But he also admitted there were rumours the halfback was not a surprise because of rumours the star was already seeking a release from his contract.
Was it a shock? No, I’ve got to be brutally honest, because there were rumblings about this late last season,” he said on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast. “There was even mild media references around Manly considering a switch for Turbo [Tom Trbojevic] to go to five-eighth and [Lehi] Hopoate being the future at fullback.
“There were rumblings and there was even a period there where people were saying he [Cherry-Evans] was going to be offered up for 2025. None of us believed it and just put it down to scuttlebutt and nobody took any notice.”
Maybe the Roosters were aware of these rumours and were freeing up cash with May leaving to make a play for Cherry-Evans. Regardless, Cherry-Evans took a dig at his current club in the post-match press conference suggesting he may not even be leaving the club for more money.
Daly Cherry-Evans remains coy on future plans
Cherry-Evans admitted he was thrilled with the support he received at Brookvale Oval having been greeted with cheers from the fans against the Eels. However, he appeared to take a sly dig at the club and the media when he suggested his next contract may not even be for more money.
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 on ABC Radio. “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.”
Cherry-Evans then took aim at the reports around him and claimed it took a nasty turn during the week. “Obviously there was a fair bit spoken after the announcement was made on Monday night,” Cherry-Evans added in his post-game press conference.
“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 ugly.”
