Daly Cherry-Evans hopes to retain his bench spot for next weekend’s World Cup semi-final at Elland Road and has vowed to continue playing for the Kangaroos for as long as he can.
Cherry-Evans, who began his representative career as a bench utility, returned to the role in Australia’s 48-4 defeat of Lebanon after coach Mal Meninga opted for Nathan Cleary at halfback and played the entire second half at five-eighth following an injury to James Tedesco.
The Kangaroos captain could have played on and the corked knee will not sideline him from the semi-final against the winner of the New Zealand-Fiji quarter-final so Meninga must choose between Cherry-Evans and either Ben Hunt or Harry Grant on the bench.
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“I am really happy for Nathan to get the jersey, that could be his for a long time so obviously I have been given the opportunity to come off the bench, which I am really grateful for,” Cherry-Evans said. “I know how special this team is, so I will take a bench spot.
“Early on I was in some really good sides and I just had to bide my time. As the game progresses and people come through, obviously Nathan has earned that halfback spot for Australia so I will take any game time I can get for this Australian side.
“Looking across the board it is obviously a great side so to be in the best 17, I am really proud of that and hoping to maintain a spot moving forward.”
The Manly skipper admitted he had been disappointed when told he had lost the battle to play halfback in the sudden-death World Cup matches but Cleary praised Cherry-Evans for the way he handled the decision.
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“I think Daly was such a man about it,” Cleary said. “He just came up to me straight away and said, ‘anything you need I will help you out’. I was very grateful for that, and he is a legend to me.
“I was glad that he got to play tonight, as well. It was a surreal feeling to get to play alongside him and besides these guys. I have just got to keep putting my best foot forward, and keep working hard to gain the respect of my team-mates.”
Meninga said before the match that Cleary was destined to be Australia’s halfback for the foreseeable future, but Cherry-Evans insisted he wanted to continue playing at the highest level.
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“There was definitely a moment when Mal was telling me I wasn’t going to start that I was disappointed, but what I have prided myself on through the most part of my career is that once you feel that initial disappointment you have just got to focus on what you can control,” he said.
“The last thing I needed was to be kicking stones and the only way I was going to handle it and help the team was to get out there and train well and hopefully perform well.
“Mal has been really honest about the situation throughout the tournament and even before we got here so from a personal level, I knew what I was up against.
“I am aware of how old I am getting and the quality of player coming through – Munster and Cleary just to name a few – but for as long as I am playing good football and offering something to this footy team I am going to stay involved.
“I am really grateful to be playing still and I do feel like I have something to offer. This is a special side, and we are building nicely so the best is yet to come and I would love to be a part of it.”