Ryan
Journey Man
Glory days to be revived
3 September 2005
Manly veteran Terry Hill has promised the Sea Eagles' finals showdown with Parramatta will be reminiscent of the glory days of the early 1980s when the boys from the west and the silvertails battled it out for the rugby league premiership.
Given the Sea Eagles' recent form that may be hard to imagine, but Manly has sent out a warning to its doubters to beware when they battle the minor premiers at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday week.
Manly secured its final berth with a blistering 36-18 win over Canberra at Canberra Stadium tonight, destroying Penrith's and the Sydney Roosters' hopes of leapfrogging the Sea Eagles into the finals.
The win sets up a first versus eighth encounter between Parramatta and Manly in the first round of finals footy.
Canberra, meanwhile, will sweat it out until Newcastle face St George Illawarra tomorrow, with the Raiders a mathematical chance of claiming the wooden spoon if the last placed Knights slaughter the Dragons.
Manly enforcer Ben Kennedy, who was inspirational in tonight's victory over the Raiders, agreed with Hill that his team could not be underestimated, but hoped the Eels did just that.
"I hope they do. It's going to be a tough assignment but nothing that we're scared of," he said.
"Once you get in the semis anything can happen.
"We can't lose anything, we just go out there and have a go and we'll give them a scare."
After leaving the Knights last season, Kennedy said his goal in 2005 was to take Manly to the finals and he as managed to achieve just that.
Hill could hardly contain himself after tonight's win as he gushed at the idea of playing in his first finals series since, he said, 1998.
"We've got a couple of real good semi finals in us," he said.
"It's going to be a great clash. It's a great rivalry.
"This is the clash of the 70s and the 80s and the 90s, hang on a minute, we're into 2000 - Manly and Parramatta.
"I'm that excited. I can't wait until next week. Geez, I'll be fired up."
Raiders coach Matt Elliott predicted Manly, with Kennedy on board, would trouble the Eels.
"They've got enough strike there," he said.
"This semi finals series will reflect the regular season and there will be some upsets."
Manly piled on six tries to Canberra's three tonight in a fiery 80 minutes as the Sea Eagles played to stay alive and the Raiders played to avoid the wooden spoon.
But it was not all good news for the Sea Eagles, with fullback Chris Hicks suffering a calf injury and halfback Michael Monaghan hobbling after rolling his ankle
3 September 2005
Manly veteran Terry Hill has promised the Sea Eagles' finals showdown with Parramatta will be reminiscent of the glory days of the early 1980s when the boys from the west and the silvertails battled it out for the rugby league premiership.
Given the Sea Eagles' recent form that may be hard to imagine, but Manly has sent out a warning to its doubters to beware when they battle the minor premiers at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday week.
Manly secured its final berth with a blistering 36-18 win over Canberra at Canberra Stadium tonight, destroying Penrith's and the Sydney Roosters' hopes of leapfrogging the Sea Eagles into the finals.
The win sets up a first versus eighth encounter between Parramatta and Manly in the first round of finals footy.
Canberra, meanwhile, will sweat it out until Newcastle face St George Illawarra tomorrow, with the Raiders a mathematical chance of claiming the wooden spoon if the last placed Knights slaughter the Dragons.
Manly enforcer Ben Kennedy, who was inspirational in tonight's victory over the Raiders, agreed with Hill that his team could not be underestimated, but hoped the Eels did just that.
"I hope they do. It's going to be a tough assignment but nothing that we're scared of," he said.
"Once you get in the semis anything can happen.
"We can't lose anything, we just go out there and have a go and we'll give them a scare."
After leaving the Knights last season, Kennedy said his goal in 2005 was to take Manly to the finals and he as managed to achieve just that.
Hill could hardly contain himself after tonight's win as he gushed at the idea of playing in his first finals series since, he said, 1998.
"We've got a couple of real good semi finals in us," he said.
"It's going to be a great clash. It's a great rivalry.
"This is the clash of the 70s and the 80s and the 90s, hang on a minute, we're into 2000 - Manly and Parramatta.
"I'm that excited. I can't wait until next week. Geez, I'll be fired up."
Raiders coach Matt Elliott predicted Manly, with Kennedy on board, would trouble the Eels.
"They've got enough strike there," he said.
"This semi finals series will reflect the regular season and there will be some upsets."
Manly piled on six tries to Canberra's three tonight in a fiery 80 minutes as the Sea Eagles played to stay alive and the Raiders played to avoid the wooden spoon.
But it was not all good news for the Sea Eagles, with fullback Chris Hicks suffering a calf injury and halfback Michael Monaghan hobbling after rolling his ankle
