Best and worst Manly game - 1 Rule.....

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maxta

First Grader
Premium Member
1 Rule - Can't include the 2008 GF win as it will take up 95% of favourites !!

Another game I loved was long, long ago - Manly vs Souths 1987 at Redfern.
The game was tough up front as Souths had Davidson, Boyle, Rampling , Fenech and a few more monsters.
Kevin Ward for Manly was ridiculous in the contest and Ronnie Gibbs apart from a spectacular try diving full length to catch a kick through on the full to score, was simply ruthless and Crusher was running and scattering some big bodies.
Souths led 10 - 0 from 2 early tries and Manly had the right to cop a belting against a fierce, fast and skillful Rabbits team, but refused to lay down...in fact lifted and took control of the arm wrestle.
Early contact had the rugged Redfern oval dust flying every hit and it was high octane footy all day, with only a few extra moments of brilliance separating the sides by 3 points with Manly winning 16 - 13.
Some Cliffy magic (yet again) and great game from hooker Mal Cochrane were involved in those key moments....great win that set the tone for the 1987 Premiership Victory.

Worst loss for mine was in 2005 and a 68 - 6 hiding.
Manly never got into the game and trailed 38 zip at HT....
Vagana scored 3 tries and menaced with every touch and without Menzies, Manly would have lost by 100+, such was that terrible defensive display.
The sad part was being so spoiled by Manly for years prior and seen some poor performances, never had witnessed the White flag held so high....

The great news is there's far more Amazing performances and wins than losses...which is another bonus being a Manly fan !!
 
Worst Manly games or performances that i can recall were in the early year's post Northern Eagles rebuilding phase .Big loses and poor defensive efforts [ with the opposition scoring 60 plus ] . twice against the Panthers , once against the Sharks and that Warriors game . Best would be too numerous to include all and really testimony to the competitive make up and success inclination of Manly sides over the decades .
 
I remember feeling disgusted with the Manly performance against the Titans at Brookie under Barrett. It was like a game of touch football. We lead by around 20 points at one stage and then let the weak Titans score about six tries on the trot. The lack of effort was appalling.
I remember thinking: "Why am I investing so much into this team when it's obvious that the players are not reciprocating?"
Can't remember the exact score but the match yielded more than 70 points.
Perhaps someone can remember the exact details....
 
Best - decided also to not go for a premiership, but our 2013 Preliminary Final game v Souths. I think I have posted that this is my favourite non-grand final game on here about a million times now but that game has a special place in my heart! Having to fight back to get the win and knowing when the siren sounds that you are on your way to the grand final is one of the best feelings ever!!!!

Worst - I'll have to go with Manly v Parra round 7 2018. We lost 44-10 and I just hate Parramatta so much so whenever they have a big win over us it's the worst. Thankfully the 52-0 win earlier that year meant we had something to hold on to. But that 2018 season just suuuuucked. I was 5 when Manly entered their first finals series in 2005 that ended up being the 10 year finals dynasty, so I really only remember a time of success. 2018 was a shock to the system but it has made me soooo much more appreciative of the good times now!


Okay now it's time to go back and finish my Constitutional Law assignment! I find writing on here a lot easier than doing that - funny that hey! @:D
 
The best for me was one of the most satisfying wins. We destroyed the Broncos on their home turf in round 12 in 2011. The end score was 34-10 in a 6 try to 1 demolition. The game had some of the best attack I’ve seen from a Manly side. One particular try involved a kick off the side of the boot from Foran close to the sideline. Snake was in a rush to contest it as it landed infield and magnificently scooped the ball in 1 hand while diving to pass to DCE in support, and send DCE in to score 1 of his 2 tries that night.

The worst was the 68-6 drubbing we copped at Shark Park in 2005. We were wearing a decent heritage jersey for that game and tarnished it with one of the worst performances you will ever see.
 
I remember feeling disgusted with the Manly performance against the Titans at Brookie under Barrett. It was like a game of touch football. We lead by around 20 points at one stage and then let the weak Titans score about six tries on the trot. The lack of effort was appalling.
I remember thinking: "Why am I investing so much into this team when it's obvious that the players are not reciprocating?"
Can't remember the exact score but the match yielded more than 70 points.
Perhaps someone can remember the exact details....

I think that last game you’re referring to is our match at Penrith on a Saturday night in 2004. They ended up winning 72-12.

2004 was a shocker. There was also one game where we were beating St George at Kogarah by 34-10. They ended up going on a hot streak within the last half hour of the match to beat us 36-34

Another game worthy as one of the best games would surely have to be our 61-0 thrashing of St George
 
Best day outside of finals wins was our destruction of the whinging worms on their own patch in March 1988. To see their fans on masse walk out with 15 minutes to go was priceless and the eventual scoreline of 64-12 at the time was revenge for some defeats we copped at their hands in the early 80s.

Worst peformance was the surrender at Penrith in August 2004 when we were smashed 72-12. That was a black day and in some ways a turning point because for the rest of that season the team did OK and we started 2005 pretty well. Their fans are bad enough but that day was a total embarrassment for the whole club!
 
Best 2005 vs Penrith at Brookvale. Down 26-6 we went on to score 30 points in 29 minutes, winning 26-36.

Worst 1997 GF, we were so close to glory I could taste it, only to steal defeat from the jaws of victory. The fact the replay of that play gets shown multiple times per season only compounds the pain.
 
One of the best games we played was in 1987 V Balmain


Balmain were close to being undefeated halfway through the season and about 6 points clear on top of the table. They game to Brookie in front of 25k fans lead 14 nil -after about 20 minutes then we piled on 48 unanswered points and that was the start of our run to the premiership
 
my favourite live i can't split these two:


and this:

favourite at home the 2008 semi v dragons, beavers send off from brookie:


maybe not the worst but one i can't seem to forget was round 17 1997 v parra.
i can't remember wether scores were level when john simon kicked a field goal. from the kick off they went down the field and he kicked another.
he kicked 3 that night.
 
my favourite live i can't split these two:


and this:

favourite at home the 2008 semi v dragons, beavers send off from brookie:


maybe not the worst but one i can't seem to forget was round 17 1997 v parra.
i can't remember wether scores were level when john simon kicked a field goal. from the kick off they went down the field and he kicked another.
he kicked 3 that night.
Damn those Eels have had some annoying wins over us...watched an Eels comeback win from 5 - 6 years ago with the worst forward pass for their 2nd last try it was unbelievable....bloke passed about 12m out judging by the 10m line and I think it was this Keating bloke catches it 4m out and ref in line plays on ???
Never seen Manly struggle to contain a winger as much as Groth and Radradra (different era's), who seemed to have spiders on them....
 
This was a great game

Big crowd friday night at brookie. Roosters rushed to an 18-0 lead, and Manly then turned it on and won well. A memorable fend from Innes on Sing.

Worst
I have to say most of the Barrett games were disappointing in his final year. The squad was good, but they underperformed consistently. At least the blokes who had big losses back in 2003-2005 were trying hard and putting in, mostly
 
The worst for me is the 2004 Penrith thrashing mentioned above. Maybe not the worst but most disappointing game apart from GF losses was Manly vs Gold Coasts at Seagulls in 1989. Rowdy Shearer was having a blue with CEO? Doug Daley and wanted out of Manly at the time. We were behind the goal posts at the southern end and he just let Gold Coast run in 3 tries without really trying to prevent them. We should have won that game but got flogged 29-6 I think. Rowdy lost me after that, went to Drongo's anyway the next year.
 
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1 of my favourites would have to be the Brett Stewart comeback game v the Tigers after the allegations and bull**** suspension, seeing him blaze to the line with a smile on his face was outstanding
 
One of my favourite wins was the Warriors semi win in 2008. Played some real sexy football in utterly thumping them.

Recent worst was that Panthers loss under Barrett in 2016 where they blew the 20 point lead.

Edit: Another fave win was the 2007 Roosters game that was fifty whatever nil and gave Chris Anderson a heart attack.
 
Without putting pressure on my memory powers I'll nominate two games from last year, I was at both games and both were against Souths.
Round 4 at Brookie, Souths were premiership hotshots and strong favourites. We were hopeful of improvement under Des but had lost our opening games and despite a big win over the Warriors we hadn't really proved anything as yet. Then we lost Turbo half way through, and it seemed all was lost, but the guys rose fantastically to the challenge, and the explosion of cheering at the ground when DCE nailed a field goal to win the game was one of the best moments I can recall, a great feeling.

Worst loss was not our worst performance but losing that final under those circumstances, with heaps of players out injured yet repeatedly getting on top of Souths, only to lose Jake to the bin, and a few other things that happened, left a very empty feeling. So near yet so far!
 
Worst games were under Trent the Dragon where we lost our soul , our spirit , our identity , our will to live .

Best game was any game the Incomparable Immortal and greatest player of all time single handedly won the game by his own individual brilliance

Tommy Bishop sharks half back...... The Brilliant Bob Fulton was the difference . There was no stopping him " !

 
One of my favourite wins was the Warriors semi win in 2008. Played some real sexy football in utterly thumping them.

Recent worst was that Panthers loss under Barrett in 2016 where they blew the 20 point lead.

Edit: Another fave win was the 2007 Roosters game that was fifty whatever nil and gave Chris Anderson a heart attack.
That win over the warriors was underrated I reckon. With so much on the line we destroyed them and hell if we kicked a goal tgat score would have been a whole lot bigger. I think we kicked like 2 or 3 goals in tgat score.
 
That win over the warriors was underrated I reckon. With so much on the line we destroyed them and hell if we kicked a goal tgat score would have been a whole lot bigger. I think we kicked like 2 or 3 goals in tgat score.
Speaking of Roosters - I recall a game they had a big lead at Brookie, but Manly came surging home.
This side had Freddy Fittler and a very strong lineup.
There was near the most memorable tries I still often recall....Manly made a change down and the ball went to Innes, who had a noted quality defender coming across at him in Matt Sing....Whooshka - the best don't argue ever right in Sings muzzle who hits the turf, as Innes races away for a sensational try, I think that completed the comeback!!
 
Worst Result as opposed to Worst Game, 2002 Last round, the Northern Eagles who were Manly that year as the NE went bust and MW took the licence back. A win and the team miraculously make the semis. Home game v Penrith. Lost 68-28.
Best and a real eye opener on how great the Manly game is, the Major Semi v Easts 1972, 32-8, sitting in the Members stand which was opened to the public (next to the Bradman)and long range tries.
 

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