Manly Champion Players we shouldn't forget

[Bearfax]

Easy to talk about Manly favourites of the past like Fulton, Eadie, Randall, Reilly, Gibbs etc. But there are many other almost forgotten heroes that deserve to be remembered.

The first I remember is Dennis Ward.

Dennis played a couple of seasons with Canterbury Bankstown before switching to Manly in 1969. A solid will of the wisp player, he gave Manly a solid halves combination sometimes with Ian Martin, other times with Bob Fulton at five eighth. He was a little dynamo on the field, tough as nails in defence, clever in attack and eventually won a Kangaroo jersey. I remember one game in the wet against the Berries (Dogs) when he was tackled and did a three sixty landing on his feet and running as if he hadn't been stopped.

Ward played in the '72 side and in fact won the Man of the Match honours for Manly's first Grand Final. He left Manly after that and moved to coach and play in Newcastle, yet was still selected for a Kangaroo tour while playing in the Newcastle comp.

I had the good fortune to later meet and talk with him in Newcastle because by then we were in the same employment. He was highly under rated in discussing Manly's best half backs over the decades and deserves more recognition than he gets.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I thought Ward was in our grand final team in 68.

 

[cherry_poppins]

Geoff Toovey

I remember him, good bloke all round got ****ed by our dickhead owners

 

[Bearfax]

I thought Ward was in our grand final team in 68.

He was. My mistake. He was at Manly 1968-72

 

[desreturnoftheking]

Michael Robertson
can I get a hallelujah

 

[globaleagle]

He was. My mistake. He was at Manly 1968-72

So.....you'd forgotten then!

lololololololol

Kidding! Enjoy the 'older history' articles.

 

[Bearfax]

Nick Yakich

One of the fastest wingers to play the game, Nick played for Manly from 1960-66 scoring 52 tries in 75 club games. He was an Australian beach sprint champion mentored by another former Manly wing speedster and beach sprint champion Johnny Bliss. Frank Stanton is said to have encouraged him to play for Manly and he was until a knee injury ended his first grade career, a Manly favourite. He never played for Australia because he played in the same era as Irvine, Cleary and King, but I think he would have given Cleary and King a run for their money if he had played for a higher profile team of that time. His brother Fred also played for Manly. Both were local school teachers. Its said there would be few wingers in the modern era who could have matched him for pace.

 

[Harvies elbow]

OJ Cunningham springs to mind.
Punched way above his weight, was tough as should've repped more than he did.
Mark Willoughby, Gary Thoroughgood and Wayne Springall played roles in our 76 and 78 GF wins respectively.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

@Bearfax I think you should post these in our Ex-Players section as well. Definitely worth preserving for longer than a normal thread will stay on the front page!
Can you find any photos? If not, try posting them anyway, and maybe someone else will come up with a pic?

 

[HoldenV8]

Dennis Ward was the player who put up the bomb that Graeme Langlands caught in the 1972 World Cup Final in Lyon, France.....the greatest try never scored.

 

[MRW]

Russel Gartner , always remember that runaway try in his first game for the Kangaroos

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

Thanks Bearfax. Yes Dennis Ward is worth remembering. Tough little bloke and a clever footballer is what I recall -- like a tricky pommie halfback but solid like an extra forward. Yakich is just beyond the hazy edge of my living memory of games.

Harvies elbow: gets the schooner for bringing Kandos, Springall and the destroyer back from oblivion (you'll have to wait for it till I get out of pomland though....).

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

I haven't forgotten them, IMt.

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

Me neither, but it's good to see them named among this fan community. We have a long history as a club and as Bearfax says we have alot of amazing players in our glittering history, especially in that golden decade of the 1970s. It's up to old bastards like us to fill in the texture.

 

[Shoe1]

Nick Yakich

One of the fastest wingers to play the game, Nick played for Manly from 1960-66 scoring 52 tries in 75 club games. He was an Australian beach sprint champion mentored by another former Manly wing speedster and beach sprint champion Johnny Bliss. Frank Stanton is said to have encouraged him to play for Manly and he was until a knee injury ended his first grade career, a Manly favourite. He never played for Australia because he played in the same era as Irvine, Cleary and King, but I think he would have given Cleary and King a run for their money if he had played for a higher profile team of that time. His brother Fred also played for Manly. Both were local school teachers. Its said there would be few wingers in the modern era who could have matched him for pace.

That's a 69.3% strike rate. Better than Brett I think in terms of a strike rate.

 

[maxta]

You called Ward...I call Kevin Ward.
Poms are hit and miss - but when you get it right - you get a champion like this bloke.
Tough as teak and in 87 against an aggressive monster Souths pack, was the boss all day.
Not the flashy player who scored tries, but the perfect example of the bloke who wins the middle of the field to make his mates look good.

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

Top player. Had to go back to the English league late in the season. Came back for the GF into a hot spring day just off the plane and played a blinder.

 

[manly al]

Plenty of worthy contenders to include here, but i would just like to include the back rower Bruce "Goldie "Walker who i thought made a really good contribution in his five or so seasons with Manly . Just a good solid and classy player with genuine pace , excellent club man and occasional rep player. And certainly agree with Maxta's sentiments on Kevin Ward , who played in the 87 decider for Manly in almost heatwave conditions , not bad for a Pom / .

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Plenty of worthy contenders to include here, but i would just like to include the back rower Bruce "Goldie "Walker who i thought made a really good contribution in his five or so seasons with Manly . Just a good solid and classy player with genuine pace , excellent club man and occasional rep player. And certainly agree with Maxta's sentiments on Kevin Ward , who played in the 87 decider for Manly in almost heatwave conditions , not bad for a Pom / .

Credit where it's due Manly Al, in just one short month your spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure has improved to the point where it's unrecognisable! Just one tiny little '/' remains of your former quirky style

 

[1969]

I just loved Cliffy Lyons, a man of exceptional talent, he's timing of passes to Beaver, Toovey, and the likes was second to none, let us never forget him. He did all this while having a gasper at half time. Cliffy is God...