'There's a bit to process': Daly Cherry-Evans admits finals 'realisation' setting in as Manly exit nears

Daly Cherry-Evans cut a sombre figure in his post-game press conference as the "realisation" that Manly are unlikely to play finals football sets in.

The 36-year-old, who will leave the Sea Eagles at the end of this season, looked just as dejected as his teammates after Sunday's 26-12 loss against the Wests Tigers.

Despite opening the scoring with their first set, Manly conceded five unanswered tries and were blown off the park by the joint venture at Allianz Stadium.

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It puts the side level with the Dolphins and Tigers on 24 competition points - four points behind the eighth-placed Sydney Roosters with three rounds to go.

Speaking to media post-game, Cherry-Evans was quizzed about the performance and where his mind was at with the likelihood of a top-eight finish slipping away.

"We're now hoping to make the finals, which is not where you want to be," he said.

"That was just the realisation that it's gonna be hard to get there this year. I don't know if toll is the right word, but initially after the game and right now, there's a bit to process.

"I've been here for so long and got a lot of love for this place, so I definitely wanted to finish with a finals campaign. That's obviously looking really unlikely and just the realisation of that is why I looked so disappointed after the game.

"As I've done throughout my career, I'll dust myself off and get ready for next week."

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Cherry-Evans will bring up 350 first grade appearances next weekend, with all of them coming in the famous maroon and white colours of the Sea Eagles.

However, the champion halfback looks set to finish his career with the Roosters and when asked how he was handling the situation, Cherry-Evans made things very clear.

"The best I can," he said.

"Just to be clear, so I can differentiate - I'm definitely not happy with us losing four in a row, especially today and this result hits pretty hard.

"Everything else, to be honest with you, I'm doing the best I can and feeling like I can hold my head up high."

The result on Sunday places added pressure on Anthony Seibold, who is staring down the barrel of missing the finals for the second time in three years as Manly coach.

Just one month ago, it looked like the Sea Eagles had turned a corner with a shocking win on the road against premiership favourites Melbourne.

But since then, Seibold's men have lost games against the Bulldogs, Roosters and Raiders, pushing them out of the top-eight at the wrong time of year.

"With everything on the line, to perform like that - which was below our best - was disappointing," the coach said post-game.

"I know we'd lost a couple of games in a row before this week, but I felt as though we weren't a million miles away … that was a massive step back for us. 

"It's gonna be tough now, we're relying on other results. You've got to hope and that's not a great strategy. We've got to dust ourselves off and go again next week.

"It's been a pretty rough last month after a good win away against the Storm and had ourselves entrenched in the finals. This last month has been really disappointing for us and that was our worst performance for a long time. 

"Unfortunately we're missing some of our key guys. We got beaten up in the middle today and you probably have seen the impact of that." 

Manly will host the Dolphins next weekend in a must-win clash, before facing the Dragons and Warriors in the final fortnight of the regular season.