The Daily Telegraph - Matt Logue
MANLY captain Daly Cherry-Evans has rediscovered his brilliant best but it’s off the field where he is making the biggest impact according to his teammates.
Sea Eagles players are crediting the team’s three straight wins to Cherry-Evans, who organised an emotional meeting after the side’s round two loss to South Sydney.
With six of the top 17 players new to the club, DCE wanted the team to understand the significance of donning the famous Manly jersey.
To achieve this, he sat down with the players to unlock the motivation driving them to succeed.
Hooker Api Koroisau believes the honesty meeting was a masterstroke from Cherry-Evans — a bloke he rates as a born leader.
“That was huge from Daly to bring the boys together and solidify the team,” Koroisau told The Daily Telegraph.
“You are a team of individuals until you learn how to be one team and play together.
“The boys really had to think about Manly and we had to give a reason why we wanted to play.
“People come from different parts of the world and from other teams, so sometimes playing for a club doesn’t really mean that much to you.
“But that (meeting) really made everyone think about what it means to play for Manly.
“I thought it was really big of him (Daly) to bring us together and now we have turned it around.”
Koroisau has no doubts Manly is now Cherry-Evans’ team, the sole survivor from the club’s 2011 grand final-winning side.
“I think the thing that has impressed me the most about Daly is that all his decisions have been made with the team,” he said.
“He hasn’t gone off individually or tried to do things by himself, he always includes the boys.
“That’s one of the traits of being a good leader.
“You don’t whip the lash from behind, you get at the front and start pulling with everyone.
“I think Daly is really starting to come out of his shell and he is playing some really good footy.”
Fullback Tom Trbojevic has also been highly impressed with Cherry-Evans’ leadership this season.
“He is our captain and our leader and we all fall back to him when times are tough.
“There was a massive bond built up over the off-season.
“The first two weeks we weren’t good enough and I guess we’ve had a massive change in attitude and all the boys are going out there with a desire to win and that meeting Daly set up as had a lot to do with it.”