Daly Cherry-Evans pushed his case for a Queensland State of Origin recall, as he shot Manly into the NRL's top four with a 35-18 flogging of champions Cronulla yesterday.
Cherry-Evans set up three tries and kicked a field goal in the win, to continue his career-best form at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
His only blemish came when he threw an intercept ball for Cronulla's Luke Lewis late in the first half, who ran 80m to score and threaten a typical Cronulla comeback.
Largely forgotten in the Maroons selection race to replace the injured Johnathan Thurston, Cherry-Evans' performance must now surely put him in the frame for at least a bench spot.
He targeted New South Wales five-eighth James Maloney in defence, regularly directing traffic at him as he missed five tackles. It was evident when he put second-rower Curtis Sironen in to score in the second set of the match, after the Sharks five-eighth rushed out of the line.
• St George Illawarra were saved from embarrassment after coming from behind to break lowly Newcastle's hearts 32-28 yesterday.
The Dragons were booed from the field by their own fans at UOW Jubilee Oval as they went into halftime down 28-10. However, the Red V faithful were singing in the stands by fulltime after a gutsy comeback orchestrated by Gareth Widdop.
A loss would have put Paul McGregor's side on the brink of falling out of the top eight but they ran in four unanswered tries in the second 40 minutes to snap a two-game losing streak.
