Don't break up the band: DCE urges board to get cracking

Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans has made an impassioned plea to the Sea Eagles board to keep the Trbojevic brothers, Marty Taupau and Dylan Walker together at the club for a little while longer.

Walker is off contract in 2019, while Jake and Tom Trbojevic and dual international prop Tauapu – a Kiwis and Samoan forward – are off in 2020.

On the back of second rower Joel Thompson being re-signed this week for another season, Cherry-Evans is hoping other signatures come swiftly as well.

"I'm certainly someone who likes to be invested in the situation and every game that I've got," the 30-year-old halfback said, who signed an eight-year deal in 2015.

"Knowing how long I'm here for I certainly have an eye for the future and I'm always trying to understand who's coming in and who we're going to have around us.

"Obviously Tom and Jake are vital to the success moving forward … and I'm hoping that can be done as soon as possible so they stay out of reach of other clubs.

"Marty has been playing great, Dylan is showing he can play more than one position really well. So I do hope something can be worked out. But that stuff is above my head."

Considering his status as the incumbent Australian and Queensland No.7 surely Cherry-Evans opinion would hold some sway with either coach Des Hasler or the Sea Eagles management.

But he will firmly resist any temptation to lobby on his teammates behalf.

"I've always tried to keep away from that side of things," he said.

"It wouldn't be a nice situation if I was walking around the locker room and people knew that I had a bearing on whether they stayed or went.

"I try and distance myself as much as possible for that."

But he will definitely stick his neck out and say that playing three top-eight teams – two away - over the last three club rounds of the 2019 Telstra Premiership is a good thing.

Manly travel to Canberra on Sunday to play the Raiders, then host the Storm at Lottoland, before playing the Eels at Bankwest Stadium.

NRL.com Stats' Strength of Schedule metric states that Manly have the hardest run home of any team.

The Sea Eagles currently sit in the top four. Losing a couple of those matches would mean losing that lofty position.

"It's a great run to have. When it comes to finals time we're going to be extremely well prepared because of who we've played in the last month," Cherry-Evans said.

"So it's a good thing. There's nothing to get out of it by thinking it's a bad thing. You make sure you get your mindset right that we have three tough games that will put us in good stead for a tough finals.

"We'll be putting ourselves in the best positions to play the best that we can come finals time. We're a side lucky enough to have that run home."

One warning to teammates however, will come this week in examining video of how well Canberra players perform the one-on-one strip, after players drop off the tackle.

"We absolutely have to be aware of it," Cherry-Evans said.

"It's probably a hard thing to prepare yourself for, which is way they've been so successful at it as it's hard to train for.

"What they've obviously got is some structures in place around it and it has been beneficial for them.

"We'd be silly not to at least talk about it this week and try to understand ways to get around it."