Manly - the 2013 version

[Gazman]

Hi all, I'm a somewhat dejected Souths supporter lurking on here to sell GF tix that I bought in July in hope that we would finally break this long drought. (As it turns out a Manly supporter who resides in Canberra has bought them so I am grateful that it wasn't a Roosters supporter.)
It got me thinking about the 2013 version of Manly and try as I might I just don't see why the so-called hate exists today in the eyes of other clubs supporters when it comes to Manly. The so called Silvertails tag is no longer valid and if anything your Club is really as close to the 'battlers' tag as any team in the competition, Souths included. I look at your squad and I don't see one player who signed with Manly as a so-called Superstar, they are pretty well all either home-grown ( eg Watmough, Foran) or developed within and by your club.
All that aside what really amazes me is the hurdles your club has had to overcome to get where it is today, on the eve of another GF. Firstly, a dysfunctional Board doesn't seem to have had any impact on the playing group. Then the defection of a high profile coach to the Bulldogs, on top of the character assassination of Brett Stewart a few seasons ago .....and they just seem to plough ahead.....there is an obvious spirit in the playing group that is driving the success of the Club as a whole.


The 2013 version of Manly has a lot to commend, and I for one will be hoping for a a Manly win on Sunday and after learning of Townsville Eagles situation I really want to see Manly get the result you all hope for. Of course next season I hope Souths kick your scrawny arses...

 

[NYEagle]

Hi all, I'm a somewhat dejected Souths supporter lurking on here to sell GF tix that I bought in July in hope that we would finally break this long drought. (As it turns out a Manly supporter who resides in Canberra has bought them so I am grateful that it wasn't a Roosters supporter.)
It got me thinking about the 2013 version of Manly and try as I might I just don't see why the so-called hate exists today in the eyes of other clubs supporters when it comes to Manly. The so called Silvertails tag is no longer valid and if anything your Club is really as close to the 'battlers' tag as any team in the competition, Souths included. I look at your squad and I don't see one player who signed with Manly as a so-called Superstar, they are pretty well all either home-grown ( eg Watmough, Foran) or developed within and by your club.
All that aside what really amazes me is the hurdles your club has had to overcome to get where it is today, on the eve of another GF. Firstly, a dysfunctional Board doesn't seem to have had any impact on the playing group. Then the defection of a high profile coach to the Bulldogs, on top of the character assassination of Brett Stewart a few seasons ago .....and they just seem to plough ahead.....there is an obvious spirit in the playing group that is driving the success of the Club as a whole.


The 2013 version of Manly has a lot to commend, and I for one will be hoping for a a Manly win on Sunday and after learning of Townsville Eagles situation I really want to see Manly get the result you all hope for. Of course next season I hope Souths kick your scrawny arses...

Other than the last line (BTW....lol) you seem like a reasonably intelligent individual.

Perhaps you could put aside those hollywood bitten, pretty boy, rodents with jingle bells suits and come and join us above the bridge(s).

You will find peace and happiness and sunshine up here, and will enjoy your football.

You'll never look to the past again.

NYEagle

 

[HappilyManly]

Both Souths and Manly were forced out of the League by those Super League bastards

It took the love and determination of the Fans of both Clubs, to resurrect our Teams as a force in the NRL.

So Gazman, we have more in common than you think.

We will help Manly destroy your Team's traditional foe on Sunday

See you at Brookie next year for another worthy contest

 

[Gazman]

Both Souths and Manly were forced out of the League by those Super League bastards

It took the love and determination of the Fans of both Clubs, to resurrect our Team as a force in the NRL.

So Gazman, we have more in common than you think.

We will help Manly destroy your Team's traditional foe on Sunday

---

Sweet, btw where did my smily face go on my last sentence...? I guess he didn't like that bit.....

 

[Arko-admirer]

Thanks Gazman, to be a little pedantic we did buy Lyon and Kite as name players but none since.

It's odd to see so many other supporters starting to respect our team and our club culture. Mind you that was always there it just used to be supplemented by having money as well

What if all the hate dries up? We might be having an identity crisis soon.

 

[1969]

Of course next season I hope Souths kick your scrawny arses...

Yeah good luck with that mate, our scrawny arses are beefy and chunky hey Big Georgie, and we are fattening up a few for 2014.

Might even give Barge arse a run!

Scrawny arses my arse eh Joey...

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Sweet, btw where did my smily face go on my last sentence...?

I fixed for you Gaz.

 

[globaleagle]

I like Manly too.

May I have 6 likes now? - Bugger, just realised the OP has 10 likes!!!!! Oh well. Not to be greedy, lol



Ladies and Gentlemen.....we have a victory for humanity!!!!!

Swish!

May all your teams win all their Grand finals!

May angels sprinkle diamonds at your feet.

What total champions you all are!



Coolest peeps on the site live down there!
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vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

 

[Gazman]

Thanks Gazman, to be a little pedantic we did buy Lyon and Kite as name players but none since.

It's odd to see so many other supporters starting to respect our team and our club culture. Mind you that was always there it just used to be supplemented by having money as well

What if all the hate dries up? We might be having an identity crisis soon.

Yeah I thought about Lyon but in reality he wasn't poached in the sense that he came from another NRL club to Manly as an established star, he was a free agent returning from Superleague. Kite, maybe but it's not like there was a bidding war for his services, I see him more as a tradesman.

---

Sweet, btw where did my smily face go on my last sentence...?

I fixed for you Gaz.

Ta for that.....

---

Of course next season I hope Souths kick your scrawny arses...

Yeah good luck with that mate, our scrawny arses are beefy and chunky hey Big Georgie, and we are fattening up a few for 2014.

Might even give Barge arse a run!


Scrawny arses my arse eh Joey...

George is one arse that you'll miss next year, won't be the same seeing him playing Storm style 'robot ball'.....he just doesn't look a good fit down there IMO.

 

[MadMarcus]

That's the classiest post I think I have ever seen from an opposition supporter on these forums. Well done Gaz.

 

[Hamster Huey]

That's the classiest post I think I have ever seen from an opposition supporter on these forums. Well done Gaz.

I agree, along with 'Dog' from the Dogs who shared his opinions last week.

Perhaps we're finally seeing the realisation from non-supporters about just how special this team is, with due respect for their sustained efforts.

 

[Ralphie]

Hey Gaz, do you know a bloke named Jace?

We suspect he may be suicidal and perhaps you could look in on him for us.

 

[Frank]

The so called Silvertails tag is no longer valid and if anything your Club is really as close to the 'battlers' tag as any team in the competition, Souths included.

That may be true but I believe the difference is we don't see ourselves as battlers. The battler tag comes with the stigma of being a struggler who battles to overcome the hurdles that life places in front of you.

Our club comes to hurdles and smashes through them. We are a proud club. Proud enough to hang on to the "Silvertails" tag even if it really isn't true as the opposite promotes a mind state of failure.

It's also commonly known as a "winning culture".

 

[globaleagle]

6/6! woot! Silvertails family = best family!

 

[Gazman]

Hey Gaz, do you know a bloke named Jace?

We suspect he may be suicidal and perhaps you could look in on him for us.

Jace eh...taking it bad is he..?. I'll call by and give him a pep talk...

---

The so called Silvertails tag is no longer valid and if anything your Club is really as close to the 'battlers' tag as any team in the competition, Souths included.

That may be true but I believe the difference is we don't see ourselves as battlers. The battler tag comes with the stigma of being a struggler who battles to overcome the hurdles that life places in front of you.

Our club comes to hurdles and smashes through them. We are a proud club. Proud enough to hang on to the "Silvertails" tag even if it really isn't true as the opposite promotes a mind state of failure.

It's also commonly known as a "winning culture".

I can see your point Frank, but the connotation is that a Silvertail is in a privileged position versus the rest and uses those privileges to gain advantage over the weaker competitors. Manly in the 70's were the first club to really push the professional aspects of the game and had the financial muscle to rise to the top and attract the better players. Remember this was before sponsors and marketing revenues outside of leagues clubs became the norm. Ken Arthurson was the architect of the Manly model for success in that era, other clubs lagged behind. This is where the seeds of hate/jealousy were sown.

I look at Manly today and it's clear that they have adapted better than most clubs to the changing models through the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's etc and have managed to win premierships throughout those decades. That is quite remarkable considering the competition for sponsorship dollars in the Sydney market. Contrast that to the Broncos who really are in a privileged position having exclusive access in the Brisbane market yet Manly have enjoyed much more success despite competition for funds and the off-field dramas that they had to overcome. Like I said in the beginning I find that hate very hard to understand. This is not the 70's, the 2013 version is a completely different proposition.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

You're a breath of fresh air, Gazman.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

... Manly in the 70's were the first club to really push the professional aspects of the game and had the financial muscle to rise to the top and attract the better players. ..

Not quite, Gazman.

Poker machines were legalised in NSW in 1956. By the late 1950s Wests were known as the millionaires due to their buying spree of big name star players in an attempt to win the premiership. But St George had become so rich by 1963 that their new leagues club was dubbed the Taj Mahal because of its opulence, and there was an 18 month waiting list for membership. Meanwhile, Souths were massively backed by the rich South Sydney Juniors Leagues Club.

Manly in the late 1960's and early 1970's certainly signed a number of big names, but it was not due to being the wealthiest club. It was more about canny management and offering players what they were worth, while their present clubs preferred to spend their profits elsewhere. There was no salary cap, some clubs were poor, but Manly certainly were not the wealthiest.

The Fibros v Silvertails was just a slogan invented by Roy Masters in the late 1970s to galvanise his no-name Wests team against the star-studded Sea Eagles. It related to the quality of playing roster, not the fact that Manly was rich and Wests were not. Wests had actually been 'silvertails' long before Manly, but poor management frittered their wealth away.

The word Silvertail does have a negative connotation: someone born to wealth rather than earning it the hard way. In football terms, all Manly players had earned it the hard way, but the club had a history of signing players who were already big name stars, so it was easy to just paint us as the rich plunderers of the poor.

Which was never true. The players came willingly to join a club that was committed to success, so they could fulfil their potential and have a shot at premierships. Most could have got similar or better money elsewhere.

After the signing of a few Souths players in the early '70s, then Norths, and then the Wests trio in 1980, our reputation was entrenched. With fans from those clubs green with jealousy, as well as others from Easts, Parra and Cronulla that we had defeated along the way, it was easy to find fans that had a grudge against the ultra-successful Sea Eagles. They lapped up the Silvertails angle, so it was always a popular cause for the media to highlight that history.

The big name signings slowed to the point that Ian Roberts in 1990 and maybe Terry Hill in about 1994 are the last big-name signings I can recall before our demise following Super League.

Everyone knows that since then we have battled financial hardship. We signed an aged Ben Kennedy and a promising young Kite, then Orford, and finally, at last, a genuine star in Jamie Lyon. Have we signed a single current rep player since then?

So the Silvertails moniker is no longer applicable? Hell no. It was never applicable in its literal sense, but we adopted it as an acknowledgement of the jealousy of rival fans, and as a reflection of the quality of our players and teams, our legacy of being accustomed to success, and of accepting nothing less. It refers not to economic domination but to rugby league excellence. It is a joke by our enemies that we have turned around to embrace for our own purposes. Silvertails forever!

 

[cliffhanger]

Hey Gaz

You should copy and paste your post on the Rabbits Warren.
Maybe then all these souths supporters who cant sell their tickets can come witness the manly winning culture on sunday.

 

[Lord Eagleton]

That's the classiest post I think I have ever seen from an opposition supporter on these forums. Well done Gaz.

His team is still the pits though

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

Nice work Gazman. Rabbits lacked some experience in the spine and just lost their way under pressure. In some ways the flying start was the worst thing that could have happened to them in the game. But overall you got a powerful squad and are well coached so we should be expecting to see you again in Sept.