Cronk rips Cherry-Evans over 'poor' scenes amid major concerns for Jake Trbojevic

Yahoo

3 days ago

Cooper Cronk was highly critical of Daly Cherry-Evans' defence as the Sea Eagles slumped to a disappointing loss to Canberra on Friday night. Manly went down 28-12, leaving them 10th on the NRL ladder and needing to win all their remaining games to make the finals.
To make things even worse, they'll be without Jake Trbojevic next week after the veteran forward copped his third concussion of the season. The Sea Eagles needed a big game from their captain DCE to have any chance against the table-topping Raiders.
But Cherry-Evans was found wanting in defence on a number of occasions. After Manly took an early 6-0 lead, Ethan Strange brushed past DCE with ease on his way to scoring a brilliant solo try. Cronk labelled Cherry-Evans' effort "poor" after he threw his arms out and didn't put his body on the line.
"Cherry-Evans got caught up on Hudson Young as the lead runner, that was a poor effort there," Cronk said. "The No.1 rule against Strange is he has a strong left foot and will always try and beat you back inside."
Strange gave Cherry-Evans a bath all night and completed his hat-trick in the second half thanks to another poor effort from the Manly captain. Strange collected a pass from Jed Stuart and then put a fend in Cherry-Evans' chest, who once again opted to try and grab Strange rather than use his shoulder or go low. Cherry-Evans fell off the tackle rather limply, giving Strange a free passage to the line.
Later in the game, Cronk declared that Cherry-Evans' decision to leave the club derailed the Sea Eagles' season. Manly made a promising start to the year and appeared to be flying, but went downhill when Cherry-Evans publicly declared 2025 was his final year at the club. The captain's performance was also savaged on social media, with many questioning whether the Roosters have made the right call to sign him for 2026.
Concerns for Jake Trbojevic after third concussion this year
Meanwhile, there are genuine concerns for Trbojevic after he suffered a category-one concussion in the second half. He'll now be stood down for 11 days, meaning he won't be available in Round 24 for Manly's clash with the Tigers.
The 31-year-old has now suffered three concussions this season, and there are fears for what it might mean for his career. The former State of Origin forward is contracted to Manly until the end of 2026, and has been in negotiations with the club about extending.
But Sea Eagles assistant Michael Ennis summed up the grim situation with some telling comments after the game. Speaking on Fox Sports, Ennis sent his well-wishes to Jake and the Trbojevic family and said everyone was hoping he makes a speedy recovery.
Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty - set to be teammates with Trbojevic at Manly next season - also said he'd check on Jake after the game. "I'll check on Jakey Trbojevic," Fogarty told Channel 9. "He's a warrior of our game and it's very unfortunate to see anyone go down like that, especially someone like Jake who is so nice."
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Manly coach Anthony Seibold said in his press conference: "It is hard to watch. He cares so much about the team. Josh Papalii is one of the biggest players in the competition and Jake goes down there and he's trying to turn the tide for us and ...
"The good thing is, he's sitting up inside the dressing room there. But it's category one, so he'll definitely miss next week. That might be the third (concussion) this season so it's really disappointing for him and us. We're already missing six or seven forwards."
On social media, speculation was rife about what it might mean for Trbojevic moving forward. Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters had previously floated Trbojevic as a smokey for selection in the end-of-season Ashes tour, but he might be forced to make a difficult call on his career.
Worried for him. The one he had earlier in the year was really bad
— Simon Anderson (@simonjourno) August 8, 2025
Big hit. Good to see the players rally around to make sure he was OK. 🤞🏽Think he'll have some serious decisions to make about the rest of the season and his career.
— Gav Harris (@GavHarris4) August 8, 2025
Tough sport. He'd have to be thinking retirement.
— BoneFD (@BoneFD) August 8, 2025