Only one thing missing from Cherry-Evans’ 350th party as Manly smash Dolphins

The Daly Cherry-Evans party was in full swing long before full-time as the departing Manly skipper celebrated his 350th game in style.

Cherry-Evans will depart the northern beaches after 15 seasons in just a few weeks’ time, but the Saturday afternoon the Sea Eagles belted the Dolphins 58-30 in his milestone game will stay with him for a long time.

The only thing that would have capped the occasion was a Cherry-Evans try, which he thought he had in the 55th minute, only for bunker official Liam Kennedy to deny him.

“Let’s be honest, 58 points ... I just wanted the win, for us to play well, and keep us alive [in the finals race],” Cherry-Evans said.

The smile on his face every time he kicked a goal was priceless. So were the scenes every time the TV cameras cut to his family in the stands, including wife Vessa and their three girls, Navi, Harvie, and Tully. He was embraced by every single teammate – and Dolphins player – when the full-time siren sounded.

Manly are at long odds to play finals football, but they are alive, although they will need eighth-placed Sydney Roosters to capitulate. The Roosters are the club where Cherry-Evans is expected to land next year.

When asked if he was now death-riding the Chooks, Cherry-Evans smiled and said: “Ooh, yeah.”

The 36-year-old Cherry-Evans becomes just the fifth player to reach 350 games. His good mate Ben Hunt will become the sixth player on Sunday.

He still has so much to give, and the love inside the stadium will leave plenty of fans wondering why he is even leaving.

“I would have given up long ago had I lost support from family and friends,” he said.

“If at any stage I felt like I had lost the locker room and the support of the team and the club, I would have stopped a long time ago.

“When you’re around good people, and people striving to be better every day, and you’ve got your friends and family are along for the journey, it’s really hard to give up. Today was a special day.”

Cherry-Evans has been the star for so many years – and won his share of games with his skills and right boot – but a lot of his younger teammates were the standouts against the Dolphins, especially Lehi Hopoate and Tolu Koula.

The young pair were dynamite down their left edge, with Hopoate bagging a double – his first try involved him flattening Trai Fuller in the corner – and Koula proving an absolute handful every time he touched the ball.

The 20-year-old Hopoate and 22-year-old Koula are the future of the club, as is injured back-rower Haumole Olakau’atu.

If Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf walked away from 4 Pines Park with any consolation, it was the fact he will work with Hopoate and Koula again with Tonga for the Pacific Championships in a couple of months.

Manly were great in attack, but their opponents were dreadful. And to think the Dolphins were still a chance of scraping into the top eight.

The Dolphins were on the end of a couple of blowout scorelines in recent weeks, but had a couple of forwards returning against a Sea Eagles side missing their entire first-choice pack.

Despite scoring first, the Dolphins leaked way too many points. Their looked tired early.

The sight of Hopoate, Koula, Tom Trbojevic and Luke Brooks all in full flight is up their with the best in the NRL. If only they had been able to do it all year. The Dolphins’ Brookvale bash-up was similar to the one the home side dished up to North Queensland in round one.

This day belonged to Cherry-Evans. The win in his 350th followed wins in his 150th, 200th, 250th and 300th games.

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