NRL news 2025 | Sydney Roosters pursuit of Daly Cherry-Evans, Sam Walker development; Phil Gould comments
Phil Gould has expressed his belief that the Roosters’ pursuit of Daly Cherry-Evans could be a “roadblock” to Sam Walker’s development as speculation continues about where the Manly half will land.
Since his announcement that he’ll be leaving Manly, there’s been limited clues as to where Cherry-Evans ends up, with the Roosters confirming their interest while the Dolphins are in the hunt too.
With the halves pairing of Sam Walker and Sandon Smith untested, much of the speculation around Cherry-Evans has been about the Roosters committing to a move similar to when they signed Cooper Cronk at the end of his career.
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However, Gould believes the signing of Cherry-Evans will only hurt Walker.
Sam Walker celebrates a try last year. Getty
“I can’t understand why the Roosters are in the conversation for Daly Cherry-Evans when they’ve invested heavily in Sam Walker long-term as their No.7, so you want to put that on hold for two years and play him with Cherry-Evans?” he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“Cherry-Evans is not going there to play six and on the left-hand side of the field, he’s going to go there to play seven if he goes there, I don’t think he is (going there), I don’t think he’s even in the frame.
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“I can’t understand why the Roosters would be remotely interested in putting that roadblock in the way of Sam Walker’s development right now and holding him back for another two years while Cherry-Evans takes over the team.
“The idea of investing in Sam Walker was so that he could be the long-term halfback, learn how to manage and control the team now the senior players have left.”
Gould went on to describe it as a “knee-jerk reaction” from the Roosters if they did sign Cherry-Evans.
“Sam Walker’s done his apprenticeship, he’s just about to come into his most important years and he needs to run the team and the Roosters need to be patient with that,” he said.
While Paul Gallen argued the Roosters rarely do rebuilds and signing Cherry-Evans would stop that, Gould responded “they need to suck it up and do it”.
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