Daly Cherry Evans is a polished media performer. Credit:NRL Photos The Cherry-Evans weirdness was there for all to see on Sunday afternoon following his virtuoso performance for Manly against the Sharks in the Shire. Cherry-Evans walked into the post-match media conference, sat down, cupped his hands and patiently waited for the obvious question: Are you ready to fill the void left by Johnathan Thurston, who has been ruled out of Origin III with a shoulder injury? The answer was signature Cherry-Evans. "I understand the opportunity that's arisen in that side," he said, like he was reading off a teleprompter. "I think the only thing I can do is show through the Manly side that I'll put my hand up. With times comes experience so I'd like to think I've become a better player. Only time will tell if I'm ready."

Top-up payments: The agreement between police and the NRL is designed to help stamp out rorts. Credit:Getty Images There's a suspicion that Cherry-Evans has been so overly media trained, this is his default way of speaking – something that contradicts his working-class upbringing. Most players would say something like: "I would love to play for Queensland again. Every kid wants to play for the Maroons. JT has been such a great player, a hero of mine, and to step up for him and be the one to win this for Queensland, well, you know, it doesn't get much better." Daly Cherry-Evans turned his back on the Titans to sign a lifetime deal with Manly. Credit:Getty Images Former teammates, including some in the Queensland side, report the way Cherry-Evans presents publicly is exactly how Cherry-Evans speaks to them privately. They can't work out if he's just a different sorta cat – or full of shit. That he is trying to be something that he is not.

He remains one of the game's most enigmatic players, which is strange considering he's never stepped a toe out of line off the field. It's impossible to trust what he says after his deplorable 11th hour backflip on his Titans deal two years ago so he could sign an eight-year $10 million mega deal to stay at Brookvale. The year before that decision, I sat down with Cherry-Evans in a cold, quiet cafe on the northern beaches because I wanted to get a better understanding about the player who had fallen out with the all-powerful senior playing group at the club. On this day, he was typically well spoken, and provided relative candour. He said – and this was on the record – that he wanted to build a better relationship with the media. Later that day, a Manly official phoned to ask if Cherry-Evans could have a look at the story before it went to print. Sorry, it doesn't work like that. No relationship was established and a year later Cherry-Evans was being hunted down by the press about growing speculation he would back out of his Titans deal before the round 13 deadline.

Wrongly, some media pursued him when he was with his family, and he understandably took aim at them. But then he said this: "To put everything to bed, there has been no changes to my current contract situation. I went through that process seven weeks ago and there is absolutely nothing to report and from what I can see there will be nothing to report." Two months later, he called a media conference to confirm he had indeed backflipped, that he had used the media speculation to test his market value after signing the Titans deal even though that "probably doesn't look very honourable". He lost a lot of people that day, and not just Titans fans. Queensland fans might be ambivalent about him, too, but what about Queensland players?

The belief that they have a set against him is too strong. He's in NFL Fantasy Leagues with several Brisbane players, including Origin players, and in this day and age that counts for something. But it's true that he doesn't snugly fit into a Maroons culture and set-up that has been in place for years. For that reason it wouldn't surprise if Cherry-Evans – despite his form – was overlooked for the decider at Suncorp Stadium on July 12, although the word is he's "back in the mix". It was telling when coach Kevin Walters didn't throw up Cherry-Evans' name last week as a possible replacement for Thurston, and he was hardly glowing again when questioned about it on radio on Monday morning. The smart money, right now, is on Broncos halfback Ben Hunt – just half a match back after being dumped to reserve grade two weeks ago – getting the nod to play in the halves alongside Cooper Cronk.