Cherry-Evans told Sea Eagles officials on Monday that 2025 will be his last season at the club, while not yet making a call on whether he would retire.
The halfback's move potentially left the the door open for him to play elsewhere next season, in one of the most unlikely splits in the NRL.
AAP can reveal the Dolphins are already one club keen to sign the 36-year-old, with Cherry-Evans a Redcliffe junior who moved to Manly in his teens.
But within an hour of news breaking that Cherry-Evans planned to finish up with Manly in 2026, club bosses were vowing to try to keep him.
The Sea Eagles will offer the halfback a new two-year deal on Tuesday, that would keep him at the club until 2027 when he is aged 38.
"We will table a two-year offer with Daly Cherry-Evans' agent on Tuesday morning," Manly CEO Tony Mestrov told News Corp.
"We have been in discussions with Daly over the summer.
"His form has been amazing this year and he is a one-club player. We want him to be an Eagle for life."
Cherry-Evans' exit would come as a significant blow to the Sea Eagles, given a serious lack of depth on the play-making market.
One of the Sea Eagles' greatest ever players, Cherry-Evans has spent recent months considering whether to play on into 2026.
Manly officials had initially hoped to be able to keep him if he played on, believing a reduced deal could be possible given his age.
Cherry-Evans debuted for Manly in 2011, winning a premiership in his first year at the club.
At one stage he looked set to move to Gold Coast, before opting out of a deal with the Titans in 2015 and signing an eight-year contract with the Sea Eagles.
AAP has been told the Dolphins would be interested in speaking to Cherry-Evans about a move to Redcliffe if his intention is to switch clubs.
Aside from his footballing pedigree and evergreen form the Dolphins regard him as a perfect mentor for rising young playmaker Isaiya Katoa, who has signed on with the club long-term.
Cherry-Evans was born in Redcliffe and played his junior football with the club until his family moved to Mackay when he was 12.
His father Troy Evans played for the Redcliffe Dolphins in the BRL competition in the 1980s.
The romance of Cherry-Evans returning to play for the Dolphins is also compelling.
When the Dolphins put their bid document together to present to the NRL in the race to join the competition in 2023, they included an image of a six-year-old Cherry-Evans in Dolphins kit to highlight that the Manly maestro was a product of the Redcliffe area.
St George Illawarra and the Sydney Roosters would loom as other clubs expected to be interested in the halfback.
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