2016 preview: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (2016)

In a nutshell…

For the previous decade, Manly had been playing finals football and 2015 was expected to be a continuation of that. But a horror injury run, massive off-field distractions, particularly around the contracts of Test halves Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans, and the future of head coach Geoff Toovey put paid to their 10-season streak. Ultimately, Manly won just four of their first 14 games and sat at the bottom of the ladder. An end of season run which saw them finish just one win shy of eighth-placed St George Illawarra. They’ve had plenty of changes to their roster in preparation for a return to the September action in 2016 as Trent Barrett takes the coaching reins.

Recruitment

Gains: Lewis Brown (Penrith), Fabian Goodall (Parramatta), Nathan Green (St.George-Illawarra), Isaac John (Penrith), Apisai Koroisau (Penrith), Darcy Lussick (Parramatta), Tim Moltzen (Wests Tigers), Nate Myles (Gold Coast), Matt Parcell (Brisbane), Martin Taupau (Wests Tigers), Dylan Walker (South Sydney), John Walker (Rugby Union), Tom Wright (Rugby Union)

Losses: Matt Ballin (Wests Tigers), Cheyse Blair (Melbourne), Michael Chee-Kam (Wests Tigers), Kieran Foran (Parramatta), Clinton Gutherson (Parramatta), James Hasson (Parramatta), Peta Hiku (Penrith), Justin Horo (Catalan Dragons), Jack Littlejohn (Wests Tigers), Dunamis Lui (St.George-Illawarra), Willie Mason (Catalan Dragons), Will Pearsall (Newcastle), Ligi Sao (New Zealand Warriors), Jesse Sene Lefao (Cronulla), David Williams (retired)

Manly’s roster has had its biggest shake-up since 2004. The changes have been measured and well thought out, adding some much needed starch to their depth, especially up front and in the halves.

  

Backs

Despite the numerous roster changes, the Sea Eagles backline has lost just Peta Hiku, which is a big loss, but young Tom Trbojevic impressed last year and is expected to be even better this year; the teenage flyer will grab a wing spot, but is also Brett Stewart’s fullback understudy. Manly have won 48% of games when Jamie Lyon hasn’t been available, compared to just under 65% when he has played. If the evergreen 34-year-old stays fit, Manly become a much more dangerous outfit.

Halves

With Foran gone and no genuine replacement for him brought to the club, Manly it seems will have Dylan Walker at five-eighth, playing practically as a roving third centre, while Cherry-Evans will be playing both sides of the field, harking back to the days of past halfbacks like Peter Sterling. It will be a tall order for DCE, but he’s a quality player and this could see him hit some career-best form. Isaac John, Tim Moltzen, Tom Wright and Lyon are No.6 options if the Walker experiment fails.  

  

Forwards

Manly’s forwards bear nearly no resemblance to the pack they used in 2015. The side now has the more creative dummy-half rotation in the Koroisau-Parcell double-act, with Ballin now at Wests Tigers, while new recruits Nate Myles, Lewis Brown and Martin Tapau bring some much-needed grunt in attack and defence, as well as some quality ball-playing forwards who can cover both the backrow and front-row roles. Boom prop Jake Trbojevic, the club’s Player of the Year in 2015, will go to another level with those types around him.

Trump cards

Brett Stewart: Even at 31 years of age, Stewart still moves quite spritely and still knows how to score a try. With Josh Dugan looking to be a centre in 2016, Stewart may very well be eyeing off a return to the State of Origin arena. The 2015 seasson saw him back to his tryscoring best, crossing for 16 tries, the most since his 2008 tally of 22. With DCE working both sides of the field, Stewart could well be hanging around him constantly and scoring plenty of meat pies in the process.

Nate Myles: The Queensland Origin star will add some urgently required starch and leadership to a revamped Manly pack. His ability to play anywhere in the forwards is a huge asset for Manly considering the new interchange rule changes. Myles is going to form a strong combination with DCE.

Under the pump

Daly Cherry-Evans: After a season full of distractions and disappointments, DCE will be looking to focus on playing good footy and winning games. He will have a bigger workload in 2016, but he is more than capable of handling it. The dumped Queensland Origin star will need a big effort for the whole season from his forwards if he is to make his new roving role a success.

Tom Symonds: The talented backrower is now among some quality players in Taupau, Brown, Mateo and Myles. He has shown for a few seasons now that he is definitely deserving of a place in the run-on side, but if his form wavers, he could find himself fighting to stay in the side.

X-factors

Martin Taupau: The beastly power of Taupau is going to be devastating wide of the ruck, running off DCE and Jamie Lyon. His big fend and offload makes this hard-running powerhouse even harder to keep under wraps. Look for Dylan Walker to be sniffing around looking for a Taupau offload.

Apisai Koroisau and Matt Parcell: The clever No.9 brings a new dimension to the Manly style of play of previous seasons. With only one ball-playing half, the signature of Koroisau was a masterful stroke by Manly, as he can play first receiver, while also being an effective dummy half runner, all of which will help to relieve some pressure off DCE. Meanwhile, ex-Bronco Parcell – who scored a ridiculous five tries in a Queensland Cup semi last year – is a livewire with stunning pace off the mark.

Achilles heel

Lack of combinations early in the season. With so many new players coming in – and a new coach in Barrett – it will take some time for the revamped line-up to click.

2015 Stats Leaders

Tries: Brett Stewart – 16

Try Assists: Daly Cherry-Evans – 18

Line-breaks: Jorge Taufua – 14

Tackle-breaks: Jorge Taufua – 54

Average metres: Jorge Taufua – 136.2

Average tackles: Matt Ballin – 40.1

  

Goalkicking

Jamie Lyon will again retain the goalkicking duties. He can run hot and cold off the tee at times, but generally is quite reliable. Feleti Mateo has kicked 7 from 9 goals in his career (5 from 5 attempts last year), while Steve Matai is also available. However, the hit-man’s his record isn’t quite as flattering, with 21 career goals from 36 attempts.

The coach

Trent Barrett takes over the reins at Manly after club legend Geoff Toovey was given the boot after four seasons. Barrett has coached the Country side since 2014 and has worked as an NRL assistant, most recently at Penrith. He is untested and so will be under a lot of pressure from a club that expects success.

The captain

The mecurial Jamie Lyon will again be captain, after first receiving the job back in 2010 in tandem with Jason King. He’s a born leader and a class act.

Rep drain

Daly Cherry-Evans was the only Manly play to feature in Origin last year, however in 2016, Nate Myles will be lining up alongside DCE for the Maroons, while Dylan Walker, Brett Stewart and even the Trbojevic brothers could find themselves in the Blues squad.

The draw

Manly will play arguably the two weakest sides of 2016, Gold Coast and Wests Tigers, only once throughout the year. They will play just once against powerhouse sides Sydney Roosters, Brisbane and Melbourne. The run home is an awkward one for Manly, who will travel to play North Queensland, Warriors (played in Perth), Souths, Parramatta, Canterbury and Penrith, while hosting Melbourne in Round 24.

Big clash

Round 1 against the Bulldogs: Manly has a very tough start to the season and a tricky run home, so they need to get plenty of early wins, which are going to have to come against quality title contenders. After their first clash they play: Tigers (A), Cronulla (H), Sydney (A), Souths (H), Warriors (A), Parramatta (H), Newcastle (A) North Queensland (H), Broncos (H) and Cronulla (A) before the first bye. They need to hit the ground running as they will not get much chance to play themselves into form.

Best line-up

1.Brett Stewart, 2. Jorge Taufua, 3. Jamie Lyon, 4. Steve Matai, 5. Tom Trbojevic, 6. Dylan Walker, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8.Jake Trbojevic, 9. Apisai Koroisau, 10. Nate Myles, 11. Tom Symonds, 12. Lewis Brown, 13. Martin Taupau. Int: 14. Matt Parcell, 15. Darcy Lussick, 16. Luke Burgess, 17. Feleti Mateo.

**This article appeared on the Commentary Box Sports website**

The 1973 Grand Final (2013)

Having won their maiden premiership in 1972, Manly became the benchmark and the team to beat in 1973. The relative newcomers to the competition, Cronulla, took up that challenge, literally.

Manly were afforded the first week off in the new finals structure, as they finished the regular season as minor premiers. Cronulla defeated third placed neighbours St.George 18-0 on the first day of the finals, earning them a second chance and a match against Manly.

Newtown defeated Canterbury 13-2 the day after, which saw the Berries drop out of the race.

In the second week of the finals, Manly defeated Cronulla 14-4 to book their spot in the Grand Final and forcing Cronulla into a sudden death match the following week.

St.George and Newtown played out at 12 all draw, which lead to a rematch just two days later, which Newtown won 8-5.

The following week, Cronulla accounted for a weary Newtown side 20-11, to advance to their maiden Grand Final.

Cronulla’s British import and captain-coach turned in one of his best ever performances in the Sharks victory over Newtown the week before, while fellow British import Cliff Watson and fellow forward Ken Maddison had been in dominant form for the entire season.

The side had also unearthed exciting teenage prospects Steve Rogers and Rick Bourke as well as sporting young test player Greg Pierce. They were an experienced, skilful and very talented squad.

Manly were a star studded outfit, containing experienced test players Fred Jones, Bill Bradstreet, Ken Irvine, Englishman Malcolm Reilly, Ray Branighan, Graham Eadie, John O’Neill and the most notable of all, Bob Fulton.

All across the park the Manly side was all class. Their attack was the best in the competition without doubt and their defence was equally impressive.

Monday, September 10 Grand Final week began with Cronulla teenage centre Steve Rogers being cleared to play after succumbing to a suspected broken cheekbone in the previous match against Newtown. He’d spent the night after the game in hospital getting scans and treatment. Rogers was literally worried sick that there would be bad news which would rule him out of the Grand Final. When he received the good news, his captain-coach Tommy Bishop said “He’s much more chirpy now. It’s the best news we could have had today. I can tell you we were all worried.”

While Rogers was convalescing, the Sharks held a light training run in which Warren Fisher was announced to be fit, having overcome a troublesome ankle injury and Greg Allen was over his bout of the flu which had sapped his energy in the match against Newtown. Cliff Watson was still in some small amount of doubt but Bishop was adamant that he’d be fit to play.

Manly, who had the luxury of a week off before the grand final, were all fresh and fully fit, including centre Ray Branighan, who had not played in the finals due to an injury sustained in their last round clash against Balmain. Their only concern lay with John O’Neill who had some slight discomfort in his ankle after training but Manly coach Ron Willey felt confident that he’d be fine come game day.

Willey also stated that he felt Cronulla were disappointing performers in their victory on the weekend against Newtown, paying particular attention to their second half performance, saying “This failure in the second half is a real pattern with Cronulla – I’ve watched their last four games and they appear to lose the scrums in the second half.”

Tuesday, September 11 Cronulla selectors announce that the club doctor has given Cliff Watson the all-clear to play in the grand final. They also reveal that experienced winger Ray Corcoran has been given the all clear to play after he displaced a bone in his foot early in the season which required a pin to be implanted into his instep. The Sharks selectors are looking at dropping Steve Edmonds and Greg Allen from the side that beat Newtown on the weekend.

Wednesday, September 12 Tommy Bishop reveals that a meeting the previous night lead to an agreement between Manly, Cronulla and Grand Final referee Keith Page, whereby both sides would have a 45 minute meeting on game day prior to kick off with Page to discuss issues in scrums. Cronulla held a rigorous 90 minute training session the previous night, later stating that no injury concerns were evident at the club. Manly coach Ron Willey held a shortened training session, saying he was happy with what he saw from his chargers. John O’Neill still carrying an injury to his ankle will take a pain killing injection before kick-off. Ray Branighan looked very fit and is expected to play for the first time in 34 days in the Grand Final.

Thursday, September 13 Both teams run light training sessions and officially declare all players will be fit and available for selection.

Friday, September 14 Tommy Bishop reveals that he had a pep talk with his players at training the previous night and spoke about the importance of having a killer instinct and playing for the full eighty minutes. Cliff Watson’s back injury had officially been declared fully healed. Willey held another light training session after which he said of Cronulla “I really can’t see them beating us. Certainly they deserve to be in the grand final because they are a good team and well coached. But they are not yet up to the standard of the Manly side.”

Saturday, September 15 Game day. The NSWRL reveals that a television audience of more than 2 million will tune in to watch the Grand Final, with the game being telecast live by ABC to all states bar Western Australia and Northern Territory. The game will also mark an end to the stellar career of Ken Irvine.

The Game

54,022 packed into the SCG, some of whom had spent the night sleeping outside the ground. The players ran out onto the field where they were forced to wait in the cold wind while longer than anticipated pre-match presentations took place. Former test player Ferris Ashton believed that this extended build up, which lasted an extra 20 minutes, may have contributed to what happened after kick-off. Cliff Watson was looking more fired up than usual and the long wait only served to intensify his eagerness and aggression.

From the outset, the game was played in the middle and a fierce battle was fought between both teams forward packs.

On the third tackle of Manly’s first set, John O’Neill charged into the Cronulla defence and was met by Maddison, Bowen and Wellman. While they grappled with the Manly forward, Maddison took a swing at O’Neill’s head while Bowen whacked his arm into his still mildly injured back. O’Neill got some revenge shortly after when he hit Wellman late after the play-the ball, leading to the first of many heated exchanges in the game.

On the next tackle, Manly lock Mal Reilly injured his hip when Ron Turner stuck his leg out in attempt to charge down Reilly’s kick. Turners boot caught Reilly in his side. Reilly hobbled off the field 6 minutes later and the medics treated him for a bruised kidney injury, before giving him three pain killing injections. Reilly hobbled back onto the field, but he had minimal involvement and had to come off due to the severe pain with 15 minutes remaining in the half. John Bucknall, who had just played in Manly’s Reserve Grade grand final winning side, came on as Reilly’s replacement.

Play continued and Cliff Watson was tackled by Terry Randall and Peter Peters. After the tackle was completed, Tommy Bishop took a jab at Peters, who showed no interest. The next tackle saw Maddison hit the ball up only to be grassed by another great strong tackle by Peters. Bishop then started swinging at Randall which led to a fight before both players were singled out by referee Page.

Bishop’s incessant pestering of Randall eventually lead to Randall chasing Bishop, who ran behind his own forwards for protection while Randall chased him around the field, almost oblivious to the game taking place. At one point, the touch judge ran onto the field and a penalty was to be given, while the officials discussed the matter, Bishop and Randall, standing near the referee started another scuffle.

Opposing big men John O’Neill and Cliff Watson had a number of heavy clashes which soon lead to the pair trading blows.

There were some great tackles made which also lead to scuffles and brawls. Martin pulled off an impressive hit on the much bigger Watson; Fulton picked up and dumped Maddison and Pierce’s lifting and driving tackle on Hamilton.

Other incidents took place in back play, stomping on hands, king hits, punches, stiff arms, kneeing and elbowing. Both sides were giving as good as they got. The traditional ‘softening-up’ period had gone on for just over 20 minutes before skilful football started being displayed. Bishop was in fine form in attack, darting around, making half breaks and putting team mates into half gaps, but for every opportunity he created, Manly’s Ian Martin was equal to the task in defence.

The first involvement in the game by Fulton saw him drift across field, draw a defender and then he threw a cut out pass to Irvine that put the winger in open space. As Irvine darted for the try line he was brought down just shy by Fisher.

As Cronulla were bringing the ball out of their half, Watson was met in a heavy tackle and while he was on his knees, he was bent back and his face raked by O’Neill. Watson lost the ball and Manly capitalised, sending a short pass to Randall who was met with a blatant swinging arm to the head by Bishop.

Fulton threw a cut out pass to Irvine that put the winger in open space. As he darted for the try line he was brought down just shy by Fisher. Soon after Fisher himself was in space but was brought down by Eadie and a certain try went begging.

28 minutes into the game, Manly were on the attack 30 metres out from Cronulla’s try line, when Fred Jones threw a flick pass back on the inside to Fulton who burst through a gap, running around defenders with sheer acceleration to score. Eadie converted and Manly lead 5-0.

In the following set after play restarted, Fulton was about to be penalised by Page for back chatting, before nearby players alerted the referee to a large brawl that was well underway at the other end of the field. All hell broke loose with fights and scuffles all over the ground. Page eventually halted the violence, called all 26 players together for the second time in the match and gave them all a warning.

Just as the half was coming to a close, Manly were awarded a penalty and they opted to take a shot at goal. Eadie’s attempt sailed wide, but after Fisher caught the ball, he lost it as he began running upfield.

At halftime Fisher was helped off the field by Bishop and was replaced after it was found he had broken his rib and it had pierced his lung. Fisher was immediately taken to hospital.

Rick Bourke replaced the hospitalised Fisher and in the second half he and Bishop formed a solid combination, which saw the Cronulla attack start to show its effectiveness. A scrum penalty against Mayes gave Cronulla their first points of the game when Rogers kicked the goal to make the score 5-2.

Manly quickly went on the attack when Branighan put Eadie into space. As Eadie ran downfield he had Fulton on his outside, but he threw a cut out pass to Irvine which went to ground and Fulton put his hands on his head rueing a lost opportunity.

In the 58^th minute, Martin put Eadie into open space again. He threw a two handed lobbed pass over the top of the outstretched arms of the Cronulla defence, which was collected by Fulton who ran 20 metres around Bourke and down the sideline, before colliding with Rogers’ cover tackle but still managing to score in the corner. Eadie’s conversion attempt was unsuccessful and Manly lead 8-2 with just 20 minutes remaining.

Cronulla hit back in the 71^st minute when Maguire was 10 metres from the Manly try line, gave a deft short pass to a flying Bourke, who hit a small gap at speed and dived off over for a try near the posts. Rogers slotted the goal to cut Manly’s lead to just one point with 17 minutes left.

Both sides battled hard for field position, neither side giving an inch. But with 3 minutes left, Cronulla were penalised after a scrum collapse and Eadie kicked an easy penalty goal to make the score 10-7 to Manly.

Bishop ran a planned play with Maddison in a last ditch attempt to score a try, but the pass went to ground and was dived on by Branighan. As the dejected Bishop turned to run back onside, he was given a slap on the back by Fulton signifying that the game was over. Manly winning their second title 10-7.

After the match, Bishop stated “That Fulton – he was great. He was the difference. I thought we were the better team in overall play but Fulton was just too classy.”

Manly captain Fred Jones said of the game “That’s the toughest match I’ve ever played in.”

Manly-Warringah Sea-Eagles

1 – Graham Eadie

2 – Ken Irvine

3 – Ray Branighan

4 – Bob Fulton

5 – Max Brown

6 – Ian Martin

7 – Johnny Mayes

13 – Bill Hamilton

12 – Fred Jones

11 – John O’Neill

10 – Peter Peters

9 – Terry Randall

8 – Malcolm Reilly

14 – John Bucknall (replaced Reilly)

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

1 – Warren Fisher

2 – Ray Corcoran

3 – Steve Rogers

4 – Eric Archer

5 – Bob Wear

6 – Chris Wellman

7 – Tommy Bishop

13 – Cliff Watson

12 – Ron Turner

11 – Grahame Bowen

10 – Ken Maddison

9 – John Maguire

8 – Greg Pierce

19 – Rick Bourke (replaced Fisher)

Referee: Keith Page

Crowd: 52,044

Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground

Date: Saturday, September 15, 1973

Manly 10 (Fulton 2 tries, Eadie 2 goals from 6 attempts)

Cronulla 7 (Bourke try, Rogers 2 goals from 5 attempts)

****This article appeared on www.steelesports.com website****

April 16, 1955 (2008)

To the naked untrained eye, the title signifies a date of little importance to anyone, except those who were born on this day of course.

However this is the date of a game of rugby league in Australia where one team was decimated by injury, misfortune and the opposition.

After two rounds, Western Suburbs were one of only three teams undefeated on the top of the ladder, with St.George and Balmain, after they had defeated cellar dwellers Canterbury and the mid-table Eastern Suburbs.

Manly were placed sixth out of the ten competing teams. They had lost their first game by two points against Balmain, but bounced back against the disappointing Parramatta side in a dour 10-4 victory.

Both teams were at full strength leading into the game, one which many pundits believed would be a walkover for the Wests side.

Season 1955 was one packed with surprises and unimaginable performances by the underdogs. Many would be aware of the massive turn-around by Souths, who were languishing on the bottom of the ladder after ten of the eighteen rounds, with just three wins, before winning their next eleven straight games to take out the premiership.

But the Round Three fixture between Wests and Manly provided a result that no one at all expected, at least not up until halftime.

The game was played at the SCG in fine conditions in front of a crowd of 11,181 spectators, most of whom left the game at halftime.

The day was dubbed “Wests Black Saturday” after they were forced to finish the game with just ten players, after being cruelled by a massive injury toll, possible the biggest ever to hit a team in one game.

The first injury happened after eleven minutes when lock Jim McKenzie was carried off the field with severe ligament damage to his knee. Wests Reserve grade forward Barry Perry was called up to sit on the bench.

Four minutes later, young centre Jim Plater tore a muscle in his chest, but played on for the rest of the half in severe pain. Upon seeing this injury, Third Grade back Joe Leslie was called up to sit on the bench, as a precautionary measure.

At halftime Manly led 6-0 after two unconverted tries, but the crowd started leaving the ground when a number of Wests players looked to be carrying injuries as they left the field. The signs were ominous.

In the second half, Manly struck as the Wests players seemingly dropped like flies to injuries. Plater came off the field ten minutes after halftime, exciting young fullback Johnny Brest, who corked his thigh in the first few minutes of the game but played on, eventually came off the field in severe pain 25 minutes after the break. The two reserves called up as injury replacements took the field, however they too fell to the cursed injury woes, Perry with a broken ankle and Leslie with a broken forearm.

The last fifteen minutes of the game Manly ran riot against a depleted Wests forward pack. For the last fifteen minutes of the game Wests could only field three players in the scrum, which was to their advantage and helped secure some possession to stem the flow of points being scored against them.

Their starting props and hooker were the only players able to pack down in the scrums, with second rower Bill Carson pushed out onto the wing.

At the end of the day, Manly won 46-0. Manly backs scored most of the points, with Johnny Tenison scoring three, Eddie Lumsden, John Hobbs and Rees Duncan a try apiece. The Manly forwards also managed to cross the line, with Martin Jackson scoring twice, Bob Grimm and captain Roy Bull both grabbing a try each. Kellock kicked eight goals in the victory.

The possibility of injury is very real each and every week that games are played, however no team expects, nor prepares for, five severe injuries in a game. The toughness displayed by some of the Wests players to stay on the field after obtaining an injury, to try and help the team out as much they could, is practically unheard of nowadays.

If only the sort of camaraderie, passion and loyalty shown by the Wests players in this game towards their team mates and for their club was being shown nowadays, our game would be much stronger and more passionate than what it is now.