The Manly Sea Eagles, minus seven players, put up a brave fight on Thursday evening against the Sydney Roosters before eventually falling by just ten points at home.
A big crowd turned out to watch the game as attention turned back to the football field following a dramatic week off it.
The club's pride jersey seemed to give everyone an opinion, with the club now doubling down and suggesting that, with more player consultation, the jersey will be back in 2023.
There has also been a push from some circles for the NRL to have a full 'pride' round next year, with the idea that all clubs would support the initiative of 'everyone in rugby league' - something the Sea Eagles were pushing through the wearing of the jersey on Thursday evening with rainbow stripes.
Cherry-Evans said in his post game press conference alongside coach Des Hasler however that the NRL must be careful about making or forcing players to promote certain issues.
As a player I think we need to be really careful about how much we push onto the players to commercialise the game,” the Manly skipper said.
“If you look at a dressing room as an NRL squad, it is very diverse and it is very inclusive so I just wonder how much we need to do as athletes, I guess, to push out there.
“Because we already are a lot of things of what we’re trying to represent and what the club tries to make you represent. At some stage we have to understand that sport is pretty inclusive. It’s not perfect and it does have boundaries but I know from my time in the game it does represent a lot of the things we’re talking about tonight.
“But unfortunately when people get put in a position to have to do something they don’t want to do, then I think that’s when you see positions like tonight.”
The seven players, who didn't attend the game last night, will all slot back into first-grade next week according to coach Des Hasler, although could be in for a frosty reception from fans of the sport.
The week has severely impacted marginalised communities off the field, with coach Hasler making a long address to apologise to both the impacted communities and the Manly players during the week following the announcement of the jersey and storm of emotion and outrage that followed.
On the field, Manly turned up time and time again to limit the Roosters to just 20 points despite being severely understrength with a number of debutants.
All told, the loss leaves the Sea Eagles two points out of the top eight behind the Roosters, but with the potential of dropping as low as 11th by the end of the weekend pending on whether the Canberra Raiders and St George Illawarra Dragons can snag wins over the Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys respectively.
