Daly Cherry-Evans (born 20 February 1989) is Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for Hull FC in the English Super League. Regarded as one of the best halfbacks in rugby league history, he is known for his game reading tactics, fitness, longevity and ability to kick match-winning field goals under pressure on either foot.
Cherry-Evans previously played for and captained the Manly Sea Eagles, winning the 2011 NRL Grand Final in his rookie season and the Clive Churchill Medal as best on ground in the 2013 NRL Grand Final. Cherry-Evans played for the Sydney Roosters in 2026, kicking the match winning field goal in the 2026 NRL Grand Final, winning his second NRL premiership. He played for Queensland in State of Origin, captaining the side with distinction from 2019-2025, leading arguably the greatest upset in Origin history in 2020. He played for Australia at international level, and was a vice-captain in Tests and co-captained the title-winning inaugural 9's side in 2019. He captained the Prime Ministers XIII in 2018 and 2022 and vice-captained in 2023.
Cherry-Evans holds the record for most games for Manly, most games for Manly as captain, most NRL games as halfback, most NRL tries as halfback, most field goals, try assists and 40/20s in the NRL era, the oldest player in State of Origin history, the oldest Origin captain, and most consecutive games as a halfback at State of Origin level.
Personal life Cherry-Evans was born in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia to an English-born mother and an Australian father. His father, Troy Evans, played as a for the Norths Devils and Redcliffe Dolphins in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership during the 1980s and 1990s.
He began playing rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins at five-years-old. At 12 years of age Cherry-Evans moved to Mackay, Queensland with his family and continued to play junior rugby league for Mackay Brothers, Sarina Crocodiles and South's Sharks. He attended St Patrick's College during his high school years. He also attended Redcliffe State High School in Year 12 and played for the school's rugby league team. At the beginning of 2008 Cherry-Evans was invited by Dennis Moore to trial with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and later signed a contract to play for their under-20s National Youth Competition team.
Daly is married to his long-time partner, Vessa Rockliff and have three daughters together. The couple married in late November 2024 in Manly, Sydney, after being together for many years. The ceremony was attended by several NRL stars, including Kieran Foran and the Trbojevic brothers.
Playing career National Youth Competition (2008–09)
Cherry-Evans played 46 games for the National Youth Competition team of Manly Sea Eagles over the 2008 and 2009 season where he scored 246 points in total including 24 tries.
He was named on the interchange bench of the 2009 Toyota Cup season's team of the year.
Queensland Cup (2010) At the conclusion of the 2009 Toyota Cup season, Cherry-Evans found himself behind Trent Hodkinson as Manly's first grade halfback after the departure of club captain Matt Orford. As a result, Cherry-Evans was sent to play for Manly's Queensland Cup feeder club the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles. His performances in the side saw him selected as the Queensland Residents halfback and captain. After captaining the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles for most of the season, Cherry-Evans was named the Queensland Cup Best and Fairest, Rookie of the Year and runner-up to Player of The Year.
2011 With Hodkinson moving to play for the Canterbury Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season against the Melbourne Storm at in the Sea Eagles 18–6 loss at AAMI Park.
In Round 12 against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, Cherry-Evans scored his first NRL career try in the Sea Eagles 34–10 victory, one of which was set up by a flick pass from Brett Stewart who while diving for the ball had scooped it up one handed and passed to Cherry-Evans in the same movement. In round 13 against the Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans crossed the try line untouched from a scrum, performed a one-on-one strip on Dene Halatau, and had 3 try assists in a dominating display that saw him named as halfback in the BigPond Sport Team of the Week. In October 2011, English coach Steve McNamara offered Cherry-Evans a starting spot on the England team for the 2011 Four Nations as he is eligible for England through his English born mother Kellie. Cherry-Evans declined the offer, declaring himself available only to play representative football for both Queensland and Australia should he be selected.
Cherry-Evans won the 2011 Dally M Rookie of the Year award, and scored a try in Manly's victory over the New Zealand Warriors in the 2011 NRL grand final. He gave a perfect inside pass for Brett Stewart to score the first try of the match in the 30th minute of the game. His own try just before the game's half time was set up by an audacious grubber kick by Clive Churchill Medal winner Glenn Stewart. The Manly grubber kicked for winger Michael Robertson on his own 20 metre line. Robertson regathered and raced 50 metres down field, evading a desperate tackle from Manu Vatuvei, before passing to Matt Ballin who continued the run until tackled only 5 metres out from scoring. On the next play Cherry-Evans received the ball from halves partner Kieran Foran, threw two dummy-passes and scored next to the posts to give the Sea Eagles a match winning 12–2 lead after Lyon's conversion. Manly went on to defeat the Warriors 24–10 to win their 8th premiership, with DCE the first rookie halfback to lead his team to premiership success since "Slippery" Steve Morris won with St George in 1979.
Cherry-Evans finished his debut year in the NRL in the 2011 NRL season with him playing in all 27 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles matches, scoring seven tries, kicking 25 goals and threee field goals. He was named by the Rugby League International Federation in its annual awards as the world's best halfback for 2011.
2012 In March 2012, Cherry-Evans management formally requested a release for the 2013 NRL season, believing he was being underpaid on a modest $85,000 contract. Just over a week later, Cherry-Evans re-signed on a significantly upgraded contract, worth a reported $500,000 with Manly until the end of the 2015 season.
Cherry-Evans played in all 27 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles matches and scored seven tries, kicked three goals and kicked one field goal during the 2012 NRL season.
2013 Since he made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season, Cherry-Evans had not missed a single game of the NRL. Due to his selection for Queensland in Game III of the 2013 Origin series, Cherry-Evans missed his first game for the Sea Eagles, missing their Round 18 clash with North Queensland in Townsville.
In October 2013, Cherry-Evans won the Clive Churchill Medal as Man of the Match in the 2013 NRL Grand Final v Sydney Roosters in a 26–18 defeat. Cherry-Evans is the third player since the award's inception in 1986 to win the Medal from a losing Grand Final side and one of four who have achieved the honour, joining Canberra's Bradley Clyde (1991), St George's Brad Mackay (1993) and Canberra's Jack Wighton (2019).
Cherry-Evans played in 27 matches, scored 11 tries and kicked 2 field goals for the Sea Eagles in the 2013 NRL season.
2014 On 14 February 2014, Cherry-Evans was selected in the Sea Eagles inaugural 2014 Auckland Nines squad.
In August 2014, Cherry-Evans played his 100th NRL career match in Round 24 in a 22–12 loss v the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium.
In September 2014, Cherry-Evans played in his fourth straight finals series, having led Manly to the top four in his first four NRL seasons consecutively. Manly lost 40–24 to eventual premiers South Sydney Rabbitohs in the Qualifying Final at Allianz Stadium. Manly hosted the Semi Final v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Allianz. Cherry-Evans kicked a field goal with a minute left on the clock to equal scores 17-all, sending the game to Golden Point before former Manly half Trent Hodkinson kicked the winning field goal for the Bulldogs, ending Manly's season. Cherry-Evans was selected in the Australian Four Nations train-on squad. Cherry-Evans was named 2014 Dally M Halfback of the Year at the 2014 Dally M Awards.
Cherry-Evans played in 23 matches, scored a career-low season tally of 3 tries and kicked an equal career-high season tally of 4 field goals for Manly in the 2014 NRL season.
2015 In January 2015, Cherry-Evans captained the Sea Eagles during the 2015 Auckland Nines competition. His team lost each of its matches throughout the pre-season competition.
On 6 March 2015, Cherry-Evans revealed he had agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans team in 2016 on a four-year contract. He changed his mind to stay with the Sea Eagles on an eight-year deal on 3 June, before the NRL's Round 13 cooling off period expired. During the announcement, Cherry-Evans was quoted as saying: "I definitely left the door open for this speculation to continue because, to be honest, I was always curious to know what offer was going to be on the table from Manly". He was subsequently booed at later games in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The deal was rumoured to be over $10m AUD or $1.25m per season.
In September 2015, Manly failed to make the finals for the first time in Cherry-Evans career, finishing ninth. Cherry-Evans played in 23 matches and scored four tries during the 2015 NRL season.
2016 In March 2016, Cherry-Evans suffered a high ankle sprain during Round 4 v Sydney Roosters in a 22–20 win, requiring a moon boot and ruled out for a month.
In June 2016, Cherry-Evans suffered his second ankle injury for the season during Manly's 30–18 loss to Canberra Raiders in Round 13 after he scored the opening try of the match. Expected to miss four games, Cherry-Evans only missed 2 games, returning in Round 16.
In September 2016, Manly failed to make the finals for a second straight season, finishing 13th. Cherry-Evans played a career-low season tally of 19 matches, scored 5 tries and kicked 2 field goals during the 2016 NRL season.
2017 On 13 January 2017, following the retirement of long time Manly premiership winning captain Jamie Lyon, Cherry-Evans was named as Manly's club captain for the 2017 NRL season. Cherry-Evans hit back at former critics by having a great 2017 season, leading the Sea Eagles to their first finals series since 2014, where they were defeated in the first round by the Penrith Panthers. Cherry-Evans was named Player of the Year by the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at the end of the 2017 season, having played all 25 games, scoring 6 tries, and kicking 9 goals.
2018 On 28 May, Cherry-Evans was not selected to play in Queensland's State of Origin team for the series opener for the 2018 State of Origin series. On 2 July, Cherry-Evans was recalled to the Queensland Origin team as halfback for Game 3 of the 2018 State of Origin series.
During the 2018 season, Cherry-Evans played 24 games, scoring 8 tries and kicking 65 goals. Even though Manly finished 15th at the end of the 2018 NRL season, he was a stand out and was recalled to the Australian Test team, selected as halfback and vice-captain for both of the Test matches against both New Zealand and Tonga, scoring a try against Tonga in a 34–16 win at Mt Smart Stadium.
2019 In Round 3, Cherry-Evans scored 2 tries and kicked 7 goals as Manly defeated the New Zealand Warriors 46–12. On 27 May, Cherry-Evans was picked to play at Halfback for the Queensland Maroons side and was also picked as the 15th Captain of the Queensland Maroons side. Cherry-Evans played in all 3 games of the 2019 State of Origin series as Queensland lost the series 2–1.
In Round 19, Cherry-Evans kicked the winning field goal in golden point extra-time as Manly defeated Melbourne 11–10 at AAMI Park.