Primeval - Silvertails' Grand Final Review

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Matabele link said:
[quote author=Canteen Worker link=topic=178720.msg200493#msg200493 date=1223353039]
We also played ST G that season a few weeks later when they were good and we dusted them as well.

ummm..... I think you're forgetting the last 20 minutes of that game where they scored 26 to beat us?
[/quote]I was actually at that game which I thought was later in the same season. Beaver broke the forward try scoring record and it was Blacklock's last game at Kogarah. Was a great first half till the massive come-back!! 
 
I think the St G game you're thinking of was in 2003 when we dusted them on a Sunday afternoon after we'd lost 7 straight from round 2 onwards.  (We surprised the Cowboys in the first round). 
 
Was that Cowboys game the only time Jye Mullane ever showed any footballing ability?

Yes Jye is still with us in spirit :)
 
Kiwi Eagle link said:
I arrived back home to some terrible news, and the Manly boys will never know how much that win means to me during this time and is helping me through
I can only assume you have suffered the loss of a loved one Kiwi, if so please accept my commiserations.
 
Kiwi, sorry to hear of bad news.  You were right often enough through the season and I now acknowledge it.  When I bagged all those you mentioned, mostly correctly at the time, you were always there  to support them, an admirable quality.  I now acknowledge there may have been a hand behind those bad plays that led towards their redemtion and growth.  Matai was a tower throughout the semis as were Bryant and the Ox.  Although Kiwi, I was pleased that the Ox was relieved of the pressure of kicks in the second half.     
 
Utility Player link said:
[quote author=Kiwi Eagle link=topic=178720.msg200503#msg200503 date=1223356707]
I arrived back home to some terrible news, and the Manly boys will never know how much that win means to me during this time and is helping me through
I can only assume you have suffered the loss of a loved one Kiwi, if so please accept my commiserations.
[/quote]

Thanks UP, yes, you are correct. My cousin passed away last thursday, but my family didn't want to tell me before i got back yesterday, so it has been bloody tough, especially with the funeral today. Couldn't sleep last night so chucked on the GF celebrations and it actually helped a bit

DSM, you are always a willing sparring partner mate, i enjoy our debates. At the end of the day, we are both after the same thing, Manly victories. After going through the painful years of the late 90s-early 2000s, i guess the success we have enjoyed the past few years has made the positives a bit more easy to find for me. When we were in our dark stages i was always banned from MSE for hooking into them :D
 
A brilliant read, it so eloquently describes my feelings of the past 10 or so years. The days of the glass half or empty debates are long gone.

The brilliance of the victory on Sunday was so much sweeter because of those years of misery and the slow but steady climb back to the top.
 
Yeah well written mate. When I think back now to those days of the Northern Eagles, I had honestly given up on rugby league and had all but resigned myself to the fact that Manly were gone. They were to be consigned to the same fate as the once proud Tigers and Magpies, not to mention my grandfathers favourite team the mighty Newtown Jets. I had visions of explaining to my kids (not yet arrived) that I used to follow this wonderful team called the Manly Sea Eagles, also known as the Silvertails, who were a very successful club with a rich history, but were universally hated for their success. I was so pissed off that we had stood tall during the Superleague war and had basically been the flagship for the ARL, sending ourselves flat broke in the process. Why ? To defend what we thought were the right values, years of tradition and the true essence of the sporting contest untainted by commercial interests. Of course we got screwed over and it nearly killed off our great club. Not many people shed a tear about this of course.

I don't recall watching a Northern Eagles game, I probably did but couldn't tell you anything about it. I kept a passing interest because of Menzies, Kosef and Gartner, one of the greatest backrows ever to lace on boots for the mighty Maroon and White, but that was about it. I certainly didn't consider myself a "supporter" of the team, more a fan of a couple of the players. As the joint venture descended into farce and the whole show looked like it was going to implode, I thought what a sad way for the memory of Manly to fade from the sporting landscape. Cocky Cronulla and Parra fans  revelled in the sad demise of their nemesis, unmercifully slipping the boot into the "Beagles" at every opportunity.

I still remember reading an article about the imminent collapse of the joint venture and discovering that the actual NRL licence was held by Manly, and that it would revert to them if the whole thing fell over. A glimmer of hope perhaps ?...the rest is history of course. The announcement that season 2003 would see the return of the mighty Sea Eagles was greeted with joy. I embraced rugby league like I was that young kid who cycled madly home from school on a Wednesday afternoon in September 1978, full of anticipation of hearing the radio broadcast of the end of the GF replay. Memories of going to the local newsagent every week to flick through the Big League in the hope that this would be the week of the Manly team poster flashed through my mind. Randall, Gartner, Eadie, Blake, Boyd, Dorahy.....the list goes on.

We had to sail through some uncharted waters early on, with a mediocre roster and some pretty poor performances on the field, it was tough times for fans used to a side who was always competitive and there, or thereabouts, come finals time. Of course those same lowlife Eels and Sharks supporters were circling like vultures, waiting for the last rites to be read, I kept telling them they'd get theirs shortly (more hopeful then certain in those days). Seems a world away now, that's for sure.

What a wonderful win on Sunday, and one might say it is some good karma finally coming home to roost after the near death experience of the Superleague war. You are right though, we would have been dead in the water without the generosity of our private benefactors, although I'd like to think that they have been repaid a thousand times over with Sunday's result. I suspect anyone of us would do what they have done had we had the resources to do so, and equally wouldn't expect anything in return except unfettered access to the change rooms to share in the team song as celebration of a GF victory.

Who would've thought this was possible 6 years ago ? what a remarkable turnaround.

 
 
Yeah when Kite went over that was huge.  I was screaming for them to take the field goal and make it a 19 point lead, but a try under the posts pretty much stopped my worrying. 
 
The Gronk link said:
Yeah when Kite went over that was huge.  I was screaming for them to take the field goal and make it a 19 point lead, but a try under the posts pretty much stopped my worrying. 
  In the circumstances I reckon the field goal then could have been a negative move.  The Storm peppered our line shortly afterward and it was their last hurrah.

24-6 or 24-12 would have been a lot more comfortable than 19-6 or 19-12.
 
Agreed on that. We were in control of that game and it showed.

For me one of the main things I noticed was when we received a penalty pretty close to the posts and instead of going for the 2 points we instead kicked for touch and put the pressure on, I cant remember if we scored from it, but that really showed Melbourne our intentions for the day and it wasn't to grind out a win, but instead to win and turn the knife
 
Matabele link said:
I reckon the turnaround started when Daniel Heckenberg agreed to join us.  ;)
Terrific read. Why the wink with Hecks?, he was about the only player in those days who could hold his head up. Boy we had some bad floggings. I actually can't believe we are where we are today but I am too happy too really think too hard about it :)
 
I had to laugh at the SunHerald. Grant Woden was MOTM in some country Grand Final somewhere. I remember his running with about three of his steps on the same piece of grass.

Wade Forrester, Tony Jensen, Gary Winters ... the list goes on!!!
 
The Heckenberg wink because I think it's well known that he was a big favourite of mine for his whole-hearted effort.  If you could have put Heck's heart in Donnelly's body, you'd get a ......

Kite.
 
well you would get a dead Heckenberg and a Transplant patient Donnelly, so playing footy would be pretty much out anyway :)

Where did Donnelly end up anyway?
 
40-Nil.

Fantastic.

(Had a big weekend, loved every min of that GF and celebrations therafter.)
 

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