Daly Cherry-Evans has broken his silence on his Roosters switch, revealing a move away from the Sea Eagles is something he was “thinking about for a little while”.
DCE shocked the NRL world in March when he revealed the 2025 season would be his last in Manly, having made his debut for the Brookvale club in 2011.
His Tricolours contract was announced in early November, with his cross-town move being widely publicised throughout the year — with Cherry-Evans himself remaining tight-lipped.
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During the club’s jersey reveal ahead of the 2026 season, the veteran halfback finally spoke about his feelings regarding his heavily-anticipated club switch.
“It’s a lot of emotions to be honest, I can’t single it down to just one,” Cherry-Evans said.
“There’s a lot of excitement obviously making the big leap, it’s going to be a new feeling. This is a new feeling and a new look.
“Deep down, it’s maybe something that I’ve been thinking about for a little while, so to be here it’s very surreal.
“But pulling on the jersey it is about as real as it gets, straight away feel the expectation and the standards that this club holds and I am really excited to be apart of that.”
Cherry-Evans signed a one-year deal with a reported mutual option for 2027.
The Roosters were dumped out of the finals race in the first week last season, going down to the Sharks 20-10.
While Cherry-Evans has been signed in a bid for the Tricolours to improve next year, the gun No.7 also believes he personally still has improvement to make when asked what excites him about his move.
“There’s a heap to be honest, I believe they’re all the things that have excited me and give me a new lease on life,”
“I have been so lucky throughout my career, at the new one club I had different coaches and at different stages a lot of different teammates.
“I think the ability to learn from a lot of different people over the years is something I am going to have to lean on this year.
“Getting out of my comfort zone is something I am always challenging myself to do, I just haven’t probably done it often in rugby league being at the same joint.
“Deep down I am really excited about challenging myself in a different way and a different environment.
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“I do feel really comfortable in the environment that it’s going to provide everything I need to get more growth of myself as a footy player and a person. I feel like I am in exactly the right place for what I want.”
Although he is yet to report to pre-season on a full-time basis, Cherry-Evans has already spent time at the club’s headquarters and believed it had a welcoming feel to it.
“I’d say the first thing ‘Mini’ is walking in the handful of times I have, it feels like a footy club and it takes me back to playing rugby league as a kid in Mackay,” he said.
“And how special it felt in the footy clubs I played there, it really has a homely feel.
“While probably a big club externally, internally there’s not a heap of people, there’s a lot of people doing a lot of work and I can really respect that.
“As I touched on before, I feel like as soon as you put the jersey on this club has got amazing history, so straight away there’s an expectation for you to go out and do your job.
“I will take a lot of pride in doing that this year.”
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