Daly Cherry-Evans insists Manly have enough field-goal options to win crunch games at the death, despite being the only Sea Eagle to kick a one-pointer in nine years.
Manly are preparing for a litmus test of their credentials against Penrith on Saturday night, after being one of the NRL’s most improved teams over the opening month.
The Sea Eagles are one of only two teams yet to be beaten in regulation time this year, but have just two wins from four games after a golden-point loss and draw.
Long regarded as one of the game’s ice men, Cherry-Evans has produced more golden-point winning plays than any other player in history with six.
While the Sea Eagles coughed up possession in the first set of extra-time against South Sydney a fortnight ago, they felt as if they went down in their 32-32 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.
“We probably have been that team who gets into golden point and has a win,” Cherry-Evans said.
“That was really tough (on Saturday).
“Four-and-a-half hour drive home from Mudgee, I couldn’t stop thinking about my role and how we played and what I did do or didn’t do well.
“Those things are always going to stay with me until I retire. Just peeling back every play and all those parts of the game I want to get right.”
If Cherry-Evans gets into a shootout this week with NSW State of Origin rival Nathan Cleary, Manly are adamant they have enough options to defeat the Panthers.
This is despite the fact the last Manly player to kick a field goal outside of Cherry-Evans is Jack Littlejohn in a loss to Melbourne in April 2014.
Before that it was Trent Hodkinson in 2010, a year before Cherry-Evans’ debut.
The issue was highlighted on Saturday when Cherry-Evans was tackled with the ball on the last on the Knights’ line in the first half of golden point.
Manly opted to run it on the next play with Lachlan Croker coming up just short of the tryline.
“I do feel like there is a second option,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Coop (Johns) could have been that guy on the weekend. Schuey (Josh Schuster) if he plays on the weekend is pretty confident to take them.
“Tom (Trbojevic) doesn’t strike them too much at training, but I am sure Tom is the kind of player that if he wanted to, he could.”
Cherry-Evans said he had long looked at Saturday’s clash with Penrith as a proper marker of where his team sat in 2023.
“If you look at our start to the year we played some of last year’s top four in Souths and Parra,” he said.
“We have held our gloves up really well, we know we can match it with the strongest sides, but when it comes to the reigning premiers you have to go to the next level up.”