If a week is a long time in rugby league, then two NRL seasons out of the finals must have felt like an eternity for Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans.
Cherry-Evans declared his young side ready to make an impact in the playoffs on Monday, ahead of Saturday night’s grudge match elimination final with Penrith.
The last time Manly played finals in 2014, they had five dual-premiership winners in their side after 10 straight seasons in the playoffs.
Come their return to September football on Saturday night though, they’ll run out with just five players who have played at least five finals matches.
“It’s only been two years which might not sound like too long when you look at the bigger picture but it’s felt like an age,” said Cherry-Evans, who took out Manly’s player of the year award on Monday night.
“It’s been a really long two years.
“It is an expectation at Manly that you play finals football every year … It’s great to be back and it’s exciting for the club again.”
Back then, Cherry-Evans was a young State of Origin halfback with an uncertain future at the club.
Now, he’s the captain and just one of two surviving players from their 2014 golden-point semi-final loss to Canterbury.
“There aren’t many left,” he said.
“So with that comes a new energy and motivation to leave your own legacy.
“This playing group wants to leave a good mark on their own career but also for this club to be proud of.”
Make no mistake, this is now Cherry-Evans’ side.
One of only three players in the team to have won a grand final, he’s left his imprint on the Sea Eagles’ 2017 season to the tune of 24 try-assists – the highest tally of his career.
With a third of the team around him 23 and under, most expected Manly and Cherry-Evans’ finals hiatus to at least be a year or two longer.
But the halfback pointed to Saturday’s 28-12 thumping of Penrith in a must-win game as evidence to why his youngsters are ready to win in September.
“It was as good of a dress rehearsal you could want for finals footy,” he said.
“We were in a predicament where we had to win to make the finals.
“With that do-or-die attitude, if we can continue to build on that I’ve got no doubt we will be okay.”
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