These are the stats that prove Daly Cherry-Evans is in career-best form and the kind of touch that saw him take Manly to the 2013 grand final and claim the Clive Churchill Medal.
Heading into the round 19 clash against Wests Tigers, the Manly halfback leads the NRL along with Gold Coast's Ash Taylor, for try assists with 21.
Cherry-Evans' numbers put him on a trajectory to post his best ever stats having already equalled his season-record for try assists from four seasons ago.
That year he took the Sea Eagles to the grand final against the Sydney Roosters where he was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal despite playing in a losing side.
The Sea Eagles have been the surprise packets of 2017 and sit fourth on the ladder thanks largely to the form of Cherry-Evans, who was surprisingly snubbed bu Queensland for the State of Origin decider.
Trent Barrett's side have simply found way to strangle opposition sides out of matches with five-eighth Blake Green (18) leading the league for repeat sets with Cherry-Evans (16) in equal second.
Cherry-Evans is also fourth in the league for line-break assists with 17.
Prop Lloyd Perrett, who came to Sea Eagles from Canterbury at the start of the season, said he was shocked by Cherry-Evans' athleticism when he arrived at Narrabeen.
"Until I came here, I didn't realise how athletic he is," Perrett said.
"When you play against him you think 'he's just a half, he's a pretty good running half', but you don't expect him to be so strong and he can move sideways so quickly.
"His passing is so crisp, we've seen it this year, he puts Dylan Walker away every game."
Manly's Jake Trbojevic and Wests Tigers' Aaron Woods and James Tedesco are expected to back up following Wednesday Origin encounter.
The match will also mark Manly prop Martin Taupau's 100th NRL match.
STATS THAT MATTER
* Manly are averaging just 9.6 errors per game, the fewest of any team.
* The Tigers broke a seven-game losing streak against the Knights in round 17, avoiding setting an unwanted new club record.
* Manly have won just three of seven home matches at Lottoland this season, but tasted victory in their two most recent matches there.
Source: Fox Sports Stats
Share
