Toovey sacking isn't on me: DCE

Daly Cherry-Evans has laughed off suggestions he played a hand in the sacking of former Manly coach Geoff Toovey.

Manly chairman Scott Penn last month claimed “significant changes in the football department had to be made” to keep the star halfback at the club, but Cherry-Evans says his decision to stay had nothing to do with Toovey’s future as coach.

“It was a very big misconception thrown out there but I guess that’s what the media does,” he told Sky Sports Radio.

“It could have been Geoff Toovey, it could have been Des Hasler, it could have been Craig Bellamy.

“It didn’t bother me who was coach, I just wanted to stay there and play with my teammates and enjoy this beautiful lifestyle.”

Cherry-Evans, who initially penned a deal with the Gold Coast before signing a lifetime deal with the Sea Eagles, also said he expected a better season at the club now the contract dramas were over.

“I’ve definitely probably got a different mindset this season,” he said ahead of the Manly’s opening-round home clash with Canterbury on Friday night.

“I can probably worry about my job in the side a bit more rather than life away from rugby league.”

Penn last month hinted the club opted to change the majority of their football staff, including Toovey, in an effort to see Cherry-Evans renege on his Titans deal after five-eighth Kieran Foran also signed with Parramatta.

“It was an indictment on the structure we had at the time,” he told Fairfax Media last month.

“We weren’t giving Daly and Kieran the hope we were going to be the long-term successful organisation we wanted to be.

“That’s pretty damning when you can’t retain your marquees because they can’t see where the club is going.”