Manly will be out to avoid a club record-equalling eighth straight NRL defeat when they host St George Illawarra.
The Eagles are languishing eight points out of the top eight in 14th spot, forcing skipper Jamie Lyon to label Monday's clash a must-win game.
"We're a bit down the ladder on where we want to be. Obviously we need to win and get as many as we can," Lyon said.
Only twice in the club's 70-year history have Manly lost eight games in a row.
Club icon Bob Fulton oversaw eight-straight defeats that began with a semi-final loss to Canberra in 1998 and ended in a seven-game losing run to start the 1999 season before Steve Sharp took over.
It matched a losing streak in 1950.
But Daly Cherry-Evans says that if this year's side are even a slight chance of making the finals, then there's still hope.
As it stands, the Sea Eagles probably need to win all nine of their remaining matches to be playing in September.
Another loss would mean missing the finals for the second year in a row, which hasn't been done at Manly since 2003-04.
"If mathematical hope is all we have, then that's all we'll need," Cherry-Evans said.
"We just need to believe that the win is just coming around the corner next game. It's foreign territory for a lot of people here, including myself.
"The only way I know how to get out of tough situations is your head down, bum up and just apply yourself the best you can."
With their next five opponents sitting outside the top eight, Cherry-Evans believes Manly can build momentum for a testing final month.
But that can only come if they back up their second-half comeback against North Queensland last week that saw them fall just four points short of an upset.
"We definitely believe our run home is favourable for us," he said.
"But the standard we set as a playing group needs to be like Monday night."
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