Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans has opted not to bite back at Anthony Watmough's expletive-ridden tirade against him during the week, insisting it didn't faze him.
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Speaking for the first time since Watmough claimed he "turned into a f***wit" following his rookie success, Cherry-Evans insisted he had bigger things to worry about after the club's loss to St George Illawarra on Saturday night.
Asked if he wanted to respond to Watmough's outburst, Cherry-Evans said: "Not really mate, it's not really my business.
"That's his opinion and everyone is entitled to one these days.
"It's not important to me. We've got bigger fish to fry at Manly here, we've got to try and win some footy games."
Then asked if the issue had been a distraction during the week, Cherry-Evans replied: "Not at all".
Watmough's accusations, aired throughout a 40-minute Hello Sport podcast this week, were aimed at everyone from former coaches Des Hasler and Geoff Toovey to the Sea Eagles' administration.
But none of that captured headlines like his views on Cherry-Evans.
The pair played together in the 2011 premiership but their relationship soured the following year as part of the changing of the guard at the Sea Eagles.
It was in that same time Cherry-Evans negotiated a heavily upgraded contract, having become a premiership-winning halfback and Kangaroos debutant in his rookie year.
However he now has a far more challenging task at hand with the Sea Eagles third last and attempting to stave off their first wooden spoon.
Manly were gallant early on Saturday night and trailed 10-8 just before the break but leaked tries either side of half-time and eventually went down 32-8.
They've now lost four on the trot and slump to 4-11.
They completed at just 63 per cent on Saturday.
"I thought we played a really good style of footy tonight but execution on the back of that really let us down," Cherry-Evans said.
Australian Associated Press
