Mark Carroll recounts dressing-room confrontation with Daly Cherry-Evans

Former Manly Sea Eagles forward Mark Carroll says he tried to "crush the hand" of captain Daly Cherry‑Evans during a heated dressing‑room confrontation before Manly's Round 18 match at 4 Pines Park.

Carroll set out the account in a column for The Nightly, reproduced by national outlets on Sept. 9, saying the exchange followed criticism he had levelled at Cherry‑Evans over the way the playmaker left the club earlier in the season. Carroll wrote that he walked up to Cherry‑Evans after spotting him "staring daggers" and told him, "Congratulations on what you have achieved here and good luck wherever you go." Carroll said Cherry‑Evans responded, "Do you really mean that?" and that he then confronted the captain about a previous column he had written that criticised Cherry‑Evans' decision to quit.

Carroll wrote that Cherry‑Evans told him he thought the earlier article was "harsh and out of line." Carroll said he replied that he did not back away from what he had written, praised Cherry‑Evans as "a legend of this club" who had represented his state and country, and urged him to focus on helping Manly make the finals. Carroll said he told Cherry‑Evans he believed the player's decision to leave had "derailed the season," and that the captain's bid to captain Queensland in Origin had also "backfired".

Carroll said the dispute finished with what he called a special "Spudd handshake," which he wrote "has been known to make eyes pop," and that the pair went their separate ways. He told readers he had thought about the column and the incident since and did not regret what he had written.

Cherry‑Evans returned to the field for what was reported as his final match in Manly colours on Friday, slotting a match‑winning field goal in a 27‑26 victory over the New Zealand Warriors. Carroll, who played 185 first‑grade games between 1987 and 1999 for clubs including Penrith, South Sydney and Manly, said he believed the club would be in finals contention had the fallout not occurred.

The account adds to an increasingly public debate between former players and current figures at NRL clubs about player movements and leadership. Carroll's column was the most recent instalment in his often forthright commentary on the Sea Eagles, and his recounting of the dressing‑room exchange was presented as his own recollection in the published piece.

Manly and Cherry‑Evans had not issued a public response to Carroll's column at the time of publication. No independent confirmation of the physicality of the alleged handshake was provided beyond Carroll's account.