The 1978 series was one of the most exciting for me as a fan.
I remember we won the last home and away game at the old sports ground against Easts. If we had lost that match we may have missed the finals, I remember Graham Eadie fielding a bomb and then sprinting 100 meters to score a try, that was a great memory.
We then played the sharks in the 2 v 3 ranked semi. We were humbled 17-12 and everyone wrote us off.
Then we played the whingers in the knock out semi, In game one, down 13-3 and going no where, we got off the canvass and forced a draw. A runaway try near the end getting us level.
The replay I personally remember, a game on a Wednesday afternoon, train strike and 42,000 people trying to get to the game during a school holiday, again terrible start, down 11-2 Ray mongrel Price sent off for punching my hero Eadie and old John Gray send off for us elbowing one of their players.
My memory of that day is 2 towering bombs and Peter Sterling at fullback for them, the rest is history, even if one was from a seventh tackle, lol.
The we beat the minor premiers Wests in the preliminary final, where we had so many wounded troops, It was one of the gutsiest wins ive ever seen from Manly,
The grand final against the fishies was a bit of a non event, a draw was a fair result and both teams had their chances. I will never forget the towering bomb from Terry Randall and Tom Mooney scoring the try.
The replay was all Manly, Graham Eadie just carved them up all day. That was one of the best days of my life. I could not get to the game as they scheduled it for a Tuesday afternoon.
My best memory of that finals campaign was the deafening noise coming from the old Sheridan stand where our brilliant fans really helped the team.
For me that will always be our greatest team, This current team has a chance to do that, they have a similar spirit and brilliant players.
As an 11 year old at the time, I sealed my love for this club. It was a great time for Manly.
