All time BEST and WORST games - plus Most hated team

[manly al]

Best game for me, outside the obvious was 2002 Round 25 vs the Warriors.

Not long after we knew NE were dead and Manly was coming back.

Absolutely pissing down and most of the GA attendees were watching from under the southern stand. Standing on the hill with maybe 100 people. Shane Dunley scored the match winner and you've never heard 2500 people make so much noise.

That was the day I knew we were on the way back to where we belong.

Good win and a game where a very underrated player [ well in my opinion ] in Robert Miles did very well for Manly at full back .
Very capable finisher on the wing also and surprised that Manly let him go at the end of that season
Probably some of the good wins against the Broncos over time stand out as some of Manly 's more satisfying wins although also acknowledge that exceptional 61 nil win against the Dragons in 95 or so
Does not seem as pronounced these days but really used to be displeased with the Bronco "s sense of self entitlement and indisputable monopoly in S E Qld that they had for a good part of the late 80 "s and 90 "s and conversely Manly having a quite good record getting the better of them during this time .
About time for Manly to square the ledger a bit as really disappointing with the past couple of seasons and with very below par Manly efforts and floggings from them

 

[Waz13]

Too many good ones to list!
@ 2008 GF tops the list
50 burger on the Broncos at Magic rnd was great
Demolishing of Parra at the Sunny Coast was up there. Thought that one might get to 70!

Worst losses are always against teams my mates support - doesn’t matter when.

 

[40 nil]

Best game 2008 GF. It can't be topped for all the reasons other posters have mentioned.

Worst game 1997 GF. Newcastle didn't beat us, we allowed them to win. Of course, they were aided & abetted by match officials who took no action when Mad Dog deliberately stomped on Toovey's head. He deserved to be sent off IMO. The incident occurred in front of our seats on the south east touchline.

Another bad game (which I didn't see) was a 15-22 loss to Balmain at windy Leichhardt Oval in the early sixties.We scored 5 unconverted tries & Keith Barnes kicked 11 penalty goals! I can't find a link to the game - maybe someone else can (my memory may not be totally accurate).

Most disliked team is the Storm for reasons well documented by other posters. I support any team that plays the Storm.

 

[simon64]

Apart from the obvious 2008 GF, there have been a few memorable ones. Always makes it extra sweet and sticks in the memory when you're there.

The 64-12 against the Worms in 1988. In fact, any Eels flogging
Of course the 2013 PF especially seeing all the Vermin fans selling their GF tickets the next day.
The 61-0 against the Goons.
I can't remember the year but we beat the Ponies at Suncorp with a final minute Wolfman try.

The worst.....easy. Either of the 82 or 83 GF's. They really stung. Probably worse that 97.

Most hated team.....Eels with daylight second.

 

[Eagle 1]

Best win, everyones fav, Manlys demo of the Storm in GF.
Worst loss, the ref manipulated 2013 Roosters GF loss staring $Bill Williams.
Lost count of the many forward passes that was thrown that day by the Chooks.
Most hated, thats an easy one.
The salary cap cheating Storm.

 

[deanm]

Custom Match List - RLP game 2008 GF. It can't be topped for all the reasons other posters have mentioned.

Worst game 1997 GF. Newcastle didn't beat us, we allowed them to win. Of course, they were aided & abetted by match officials who took no action when Mad Dog deliberately stomped on Toovey's head. He deserved to be sent off IMO. The incident occurred in front of our seats on the south east touchline.

Another bad game (which I didn't see) was a 15-22 loss to Balmain at windy Leichhardt Oval in the early sixties.We scored 5 unconverted tries & Keith Barnes kicked 11 penalty goals! I can't find a link to the game - maybe someone else can (my memory may not be totally accurate).

Most disliked team is the Storm for reasons well documented by other posters. I support any team that plays the Storm.

Keith Barnes matches v Manly -

Custom Match List - RLP

List of matches played by Keith Barnes in Australia/NZ for the Balmain Tigers.

www.rugbyleagueproject.org

 

[Tomay]

I hate terry lamb and the storm and parra and Adam mcdougal and Shane Hayne and Souths fans and any club that played super league and any club from qld.

 

[manly al]

Best game 2008 GF. It can't be topped for all the reasons other posters have mentioned.

Worst game 1997 GF. Newcastle didn't beat us, we allowed them to win. Of course, they were aided & abetted by match officials who took no action when Mad Dog deliberately stomped on Toovey's head. He deserved to be sent off IMO. The incident occurred in front of our seats on the south east touchline.

Another bad game (which I didn't see) was a 15-22 loss to Balmain at windy Leichhardt Oval in the early sixties.We scored 5 unconverted tries & Keith Barnes kicked 11 penalty goals! I can't find a link to the game - maybe someone else can (my memory may not be totally accurate).

Most disliked team is the Storm for reasons well documented by other posters. I support any team that plays the Storm.

That 's a staggering outcome , scoring 5 tries to nil yet getting beaten by a bit of a margin on penalty goals .
Would have been the old unlimited tackle rule and what were the rucks , something like 3 meters from the play the ball in defence .
Kieth Barnes must have been a very handy goal kicker though , just recall him as a commentator and sports writer after his footy career . Also must have come out to Oz fairly early in his career and pretty sure that he had many seasons at Balmain and don "t think that he had previously represented England .
Wonder if Bob Batty was the goal kicker for Manly that day , thought that he had a fairly good record as a goal kicker so must have just had an off day . That is if he was kicking for Manly that game

 

[40 nil]

Keith Barnes matches v Manly -

Custom Match List - RLP

List of matches played by Keith Barnes in Australia/NZ for the Balmain Tigers.

www.rugbyleagueproject.org

Thank you! I can't find the game I mentioned, so maybe it is a figment of my imagination or perhaps it was a preseason game.

Kieth Barnes must have been a very handy goal kicker though

Barnes was the supreme goal kicker of that era and rarely missed. His goal kicking won many games for Balmain - frustrating for other teams.

 

[Ryan]

Best games for me:
1. (All time against most hated team - Eels)

2. (Bye bye Chris Anderson bahahahaha) - 2nd most hated team - Chooks

3. (and of COURSE):

Worst game:
1. (Stolen from us by the incompetent referees)

 

[maxta]

I thin

Apart from the obvious 2008 GF, there have been a few memorable ones. Always makes it extra sweet and sticks in the memory when you're there.

The 64-12 against the Worms in 1988. In fact, any Eels flogging
Of course the 2013 PF especially seeing all the Vermin fans selling their GF tickets the next day.
The 61-0 against the Goons.
I can't remember the year but we beat the Ponies at Suncorp with a final minute Wolfman try.

The worst.....easy. Either of the 82 or 83 GF's. They really stung. Probably worse that 97.

Most hated team.....Eels with daylight second.

k that Eels game Bob Linder scored early to give that "oh no - here we go" feeling
Well that change 70 minutes later to pure jubilation - I think big Don McKinnon scored a try almost as memorable as his famous pi** that day 😅

 

[HoldenV8]

Best game ever is a 3 way tie for me.
First is the first ever Manly game I got to attend in person, the 1996 ARL Grand Final.
Second is the one time Manly has played in Adelaide. They defeated the Adelaide Rams 32–10 at Hindmarsh Stadium in Round 22 of 1998. Beaver scored a hat-trick that night. To date this is the last Manly game I have managed to attend.
And then there is the 2008 Grand Final. What else can be said but ... 40–0.

Worst game for me is rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock between the 1995, 1997 and 2013 Grand Finals.

We should never have lost any of them. In 1995 we simply didn't show up. On any other day we were miles better than the Dogs of 1995 ... just not that day.

I still shake my head at 1997. I can't explain that one and to this day.

And as for 2013......sure Hayne screwed us, but we led 18-6 with 30 to go. Its safe to say that our defence sorta kinda fell apart in the last 25–30 minutes of that game. Sure there was a forward pass, but we'd let Maloney just stride 40 metres downfield untouched to our 20 before he passed the ball. Snake lived dangerously hoping the ball would go dead rather than making sure of it, and Barba burned him for it. And Wolf just got out jumped big time. I'm only singling those out because they are the ones that saw the Chooks score.

My most hated team ... no contest - Parramatta. With honourable mentions to Melbourne, Newcastle, the Chooks and Broncos. And if we still played North Sydney they'd be in there too.