Manly Sea Eagles 1998-1999: What happened?

[HoldenV8]

During the Super League war, they wanted Manly. John Ribot had been a Sea Eagle and knew that if they were to have a club in northern Sydney it had to be Manly and not North Sydney and as such the Bears were never seriously considered as anything but a back up plan. The problem, and Ribot knew it, was the Arko and Bozo connection.

In hindsight we probably could have made more money and been in a much better financial position had we actually gone to SL which would have likely meant no merger with Norths and no Northern Eagles (oh wouldn't that part have been nice!!). If Manly had gone with SL though I think it would have all but destroyed Arko inside and would have just about all but killed the ARL's chances of even breaking even out of the war. Being Arko's club, we really were the key in Sydney. He could take Bullfrog Moore and the Dogs defecting. He could take Cronulla and Penrith doing the same. It hurt, but he could take it. But Manly, the glamour club in Sydney? His own club? The club he spent half a lifetime building into a power? That would have been a huge body blow not only to the ARL but more so to Arko personally.

To be perfectly honest, I think in the end our decision to stay loyal to the ARL at the time was more about staying loyal to Arko than it was staying loyal to the league. Was it a good decision? I'll let you make up your own minds on that. But despite everything, we bounced back and we're still here. Manly is nowhere near dead, we're not even on the ropes.

 

[Brissie Kid]

The reason for the drop in results is clear...
95, 96 and 97 = Pepsi jersey
98 and 99 = No Pepsi jersey

I rest my case

Pepsi Manly won the Coca Cola world 7s.

 

[manly al]

Probably just a combination of factors that made it difficult for Manly to continue as a single entity after 99 . Player contract values that were increased greatly during the Super League saga virtually stayed the same and coinciding with the drop off in revenue from the Leagues club . Recall that Terry Hill for instance was on 500 k or so , not unrealistic money now for a quality player [ and C P I adjustments ] but at the time for Manly , had to try to also sustain relatively high wages for the other rep level players , so something had to give . Fair to say that no Manly propping the N R L up , easy Murdock takeover of the game and the same disregard and indifference to the game in general that typified his overall business outlook and certainly not having League"s best interests as a serious priority . Just a vehicle for unfettered profit and financial gain , Full credit to Arko and Quayle standing up to Murdock , in hindsight were never going to win the war but made sure that Murdock had to make concessions as well . Determination and sheer commitment enabled Manly to rise again and broadcasting rights revenue ironically virtually ensure Manly "s continuing viability now but again if not for the stand that Manly and other A R L clubs took at the time , Murdock was only able to dictate terms on a limited scale when some semblance of peace occurred .

 

[StuBoot]

During the Super League war, they wanted Manly. John Ribot had been a Sea Eagle and knew that if they were to have a club in northern Sydney it had to be Manly and not North Sydney and as such the Bears were never seriously considered as anything but a back up plan. The problem, and Ribot knew it, was the Arko and Bozo connection.

In hindsight we probably could have made more money and been in a much better financial position had we actually gone to SL which would have likely meant no merger with Norths and no Northern Eagles (oh wouldn't that part have been nice!!). If Manly had gone with SL though I think it would have all but destroyed Arko inside and would have just about all but killed the ARL's chances of even breaking even out of the war. Being Arko's club, we really were the key in Sydney. He could take Bullfrog Moore and the Dogs defecting. He could take Cronulla and Penrith doing the same. It hurt, but he could take it. But Manly, the glamour club in Sydney? His own club? The club he spent half a lifetime building into a power? That would have been a huge body blow not only to the ARL but more so to Arko personally.

To be perfectly honest, I think in the end our decision to stay loyal to the ARL at the time was more about staying loyal to Arko than it was staying loyal to the league. Was it a good decision? I'll let you make up your own minds on that. But despite everything, we bounced back and we're still here. Manly is nowhere near dead, we're not even on the ropes.

Beautifully put @HoldenV8.
Arko might've been a tough administrator but honesty and integrity is everything.
There was enough friendships broken over SL but there would've been plenty more who wouldn't have been able to look themselves in the mirror if we took the $$$.

And as much as we hate the Chooks, Politis stood firm also.
Two administrators that put their hearts where they needed to be.

 

[manly al]

The 1998 team did get their act together winning 9 of the last 10 games to snare the last spot in the finals (10th spot out of 20 teams). Luke Phillips & Cliffy were on fire. Manly were doing well in the semi vs the Raiders in Canberra, forcing a goal line drop out with I think scores 4-all or something in the second half. From the kick a Manly player 40m out dropped the ball backwards and referee B Harrigan called it a knock on, despite still being down near the goal line. The Raiders then got on a roll and won.

It was Tooves actually that knocked the ball back .Think that that rule had just been introduced but no excuse really for Harrigan and the Touchies to have missed it . Was a critical time too with Manly on a bit of a roll . Regular bad calls against Manly seem to never abate in most eras , especially at crucial times .

 

[Disco]

Pepsi Manly won the Coca Cola world 7s.

View attachment 15701

Look how strong the squads were that used to play 7s

Beaver, Cliffy, Tooves, Ridge, Hill Hoppa, Hasler....unreal

Now you have an obligated star who gets 6 minutes and the kids.

I mean I dont really mind but god that was fun to watch back in the day

 

[manlyfan76]

Scott anyone?

 

[Freagle]

1998 & 1999, we had no front row good enough, no depth and we did not adapt to the speed of the game.

Remember that starting front row in our semi final against the Raiders... Anthony Collella and Owen Cunningham. Smallest front row pairing in history! Pretty sure it was Cliffy's last ever game...

 

[Peter C]

The reason for the drop in results is clear...
95, 96 and 97 = Pepsi jersey
98 and 99 = No Pepsi jersey

I rest my case

Yep, Pepsi switched to the Sharks in 98,Pepsi should be kissing our feet for life after we won the Coca Cola sevens in 93, we then had FAI and Rodney Adler as sponsor, that just about says it all for us then.

 

[Peter C]

Remember that starting front row in our semi final against the Raiders... Anthony Collella and Owen Cunningham. Smallest front row pairing in history! Pretty sure it was Cliffy's last ever game...

Cliffy made a return out of retirement in 99 and played about 10 games

 

[Peter C]

Beautifully put @HoldenV8.
Arko might've been a tough administrator but honesty and integrity is everything.
There was enough friendships broken over SL but there would've been plenty more who wouldn't have been able to look themselves in the mirror if we took the $$$.

And as much as we hate the Chooks, Politis stood firm also.
Two administrators that put their hearts where they needed to be.

And as much as I hate Parra, Dragons and Norths, they stood firm with the ARL after being courted by Super League

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

1998 & 1999, we had no front row good enough, no depth and we did not adapt to the speed of the game.

Yes, history has just repeated itself.

 

[Shoe1]

Cliffy was made a return out of retirement in 99 and played about 10 games

They were great games when we went on a roll. Alf Duncan try scoring genius, and Albert Torrens got plenty too. Cliffy was amazing.

 

[Shoe1]

Yes, history has just repeated itself.

Manly were bad at rebuilding after 83, 97 and 13. Goes with the territory once a team of greats retires.

 

[sheridanstand78]

Our winning team of 95-97 got old and the Super League war was a tale of woe for our club and the clubs backed by News Filth were the super powers of the time.

It was a bad time and I remember in the 99 season we lost our first 7 games and suffered some humiliating losses in that time.

It was the dark days culminating in the Northern Eagles debacle from 00-02. It was a black page in our clubs history and I remember a day at Brooky in 2002 when we Northern Eagles played the guppies on a Sunday arvo and Marcia Hines got the crowd going to help her record an Eagle Rock single she was working on. We got pumped that day and it was the biggest crowd in 2 years at Brooky and you sensed that day that Manly were coming back to life.

2003 and 2004 were grim years with some record defeats in those years and that was hard to cop. It was the start of Hasler and from 2005 -2014 we did not miss the finals and two amazing premierships an 2 other grand finals.

Lets hope that we see a similar pattern emerge and another golden era develop!

 

[manly al]

Remember that starting front row in our semi final against the Raiders... Anthony Collella and Owen Cunningham. Smallest front row pairing in history! Pretty sure it was Cliffy's last ever game...

Pretty sure that Daniel Gartner was a starting prop but no doubt that Collella and O J were in the prop rotation as well

 

[Peter C]

Our winning team of 95-97 got old and the Super League war was a tale of woe for our club and the clubs backed by News Filth were the super powers of the time.

It was a bad time and I remember in the 99 season we lost our first 7 games and suffered some humiliating losses in that time.

It was the dark days culminating in the Northern Eagles debacle from 00-02. It was a black page in our clubs history and I remember a day at Brooky in 2002 when we Northern Eagles played the guppies on a Sunday arvo and Marcia Hines got the crowd going to help her record an Eagle Rock single she was working on. We got pumped that day and it was the biggest crowd in 2 years at Brooky and you sensed that day that Manly were coming back to life.

2003 and 2004 were grim years with some record defeats in those years and that was hard to cop. It was the start of Hasler and from 2005 -2014 we did not miss the finals and two amazing premierships an 2 other grand finals.

Lets hope that we see a similar pattern emerge and another golden era develop!

I think that that day with Marcia Hines we played Cronulla and were up 18 nil st half time with a young Watmough and Jason King carving them up, at full time Cronulla won by around 50-18

 

[Shoe1]

I think that that day with Marcia Hines we played Cronulla and were up 18 nil st half time with a young Watmough and Jason King carving them up, at full time Cronulla won by around 50-18

Marcia Marcia Marcia

 

[HoldenV8]

Probably just a combination of factors that made it difficult for Manly to continue as a single entity after 99 . Player contract values that were increased greatly during the Super League saga virtually stayed the same and coinciding with the drop off in revenue from the Leagues club . Recall that Terry Hill for instance was on 500 k or so , not unrealistic money now for a quality player [ and C P I adjustments ] but at the time for Manly , had to try to also sustain relatively high wages for the other rep level players , so something had to give . Fair to say that no Manly propping the N R L up , easy Murdock takeover of the game and the same disregard and indifference to the game in general that typified his overall business outlook and certainly not having League"s best interests as a serious priority . Just a vehicle for unfettered profit and financial gain , Full credit to Arko and Quayle standing up to Murdock , in hindsight were never going to win the war but made sure that Murdock had to make concessions as well . Determination and sheer commitment enabled Manly to rise again and broadcasting rights revenue ironically virtually ensure Manly "s continuing viability now but again if not for the stand that Manly and other A R L clubs took at the time , Murdock was only able to dictate terms on a limited scale when some semblance of peace occurred .

The original salary cap went out the window with the player payments during the SL war. I mean, there were reserve graders who were suddenly earning half a million per year when only 12 months before even the best players like Daley, Langer, Fittler, Stuart etc weren't getting that. And unfortunately at the end of the war, Packer and Optus no longer had to prop up the ARL and player payments, the vastly inflated player payments, fell back on the clubs and we were one of the ones (and it was mostly ARL aligned clubs) that paid the price. And that's why the new NRL ended up bringing back the salary cap.

The problem was though that players and especially their managers were not very willing to give up their new found wealth so easily and there were threats from player managers that their clients would defect to the then newly professional rugby union ranks (and a few like Rogers, Sailor and Tuqiri actually did). The NRL took the threats that players like Fittler, Johns, Daley and Lockyer would defect (even though realistically there was next to no chance of that happening), hence why we now have TPA's to prop up contracts. Which in itself has brought a mass of problems.

 

[ShanghaiEagle]

That was my one Brookvale game in that year , never forget it!!

That was also my one game of the year, back from China, took my whole family and still have the tickets. What a day!