Manly's Best Combined Premiership Team

[Woodsie]

Yep, funny how he is not held in higher regard in our folklore maybe because he was one of the first utility players,
I was too young to remember 72-73 but definitely was a fave in 76-78, he made it hard to decide what number to put on my jersey.
Held his own as a centre, 5/8 & lock, started in all 4 GF’s in the 70’s.

Ima was and is still held in the highest regard by everybody that ever saw him play .... he played in 6 grandfinals winning 4 ....

He was the reason Fulton the immortal was kept out of his favoured 5/8 position at Manly and instead played in the centres ......when Fulton went up to the Australian team he reverted back (generally) to 5/8 ...

Ima is a legend ...

 

[malroon]

Ridge
Irvine
Matai
Fulton
Hopoata
C lyons
Toovey
Vautin
F jones
R Gibbs
T Randall
M Carroll
K Ward

J King
Brannigan
Menzies
P Shaw


18th man Watmough
Coach Des Hasler

 

[Class of 96]

You are right there . He did play fullback , wing , centre and even 5/8 during his great NRL career .
What a speed machine Rowdy was . Give him a gap and he would give you a try
A Legend off the field as well .

I can’t remember if it was ‘85 or ‘89 against Canterbury (Rowdy scored in both games) but I was at the game at Brookie. Rowdy took a kick in our quarter and just stopped. The defence hesitated (maybe they were inside the 10), then from a standing start he put on the afterburners, cut straight through the line, stepped a couple of players and it was daylight second as he went the length of the field. In was just a amazing moment I’ve never forgotten.

 

[BOZO]

I can’t remember if it was ‘85 or ‘89 against Canterbury (Rowdy scored in both games) but I was at the game at Brookie. Rowdy took a kick in our quarter and just stopped. The defence hesitated (maybe they were inside the 10), then from a standing start he put on the afterburners, cut straight through the line, stepped a couple of players and it was daylight second as he went the length of the field. In was just a amazing moment I’ve never forgotten.

Yeh I remember that very well . How can anyone forget that !!! Rowdy was one hell of a speedster . Not only did he have explosive acceleration he was also fast at top end gear as well . I love backs that posses superior pace and have the ability to create something out of completely nothing and blow away the opposition , the fans and commentators . Just when the opposition thinks they have them covered and Blink , the speedsters put on the afterburners and it is good night Irene .That was our Rowdy .
Speed Thrills . Speed Kills .

 

[Harvies elbow]

Ima was and is still held in the highest regard by everybody that ever saw him play .... he played in 6 grandfinals winning 4 ....

He was the reason Fulton the immortal was kept out of his favoured 5/8 position at Manly and instead played in the centres ......when Fulton went up to the Australian team he reverted back (generally) to 5/8 ...

Ima is a legend ...

He was certainly one of my favourites.
Especially in the semi final of 76 when he belted 7 shades of sh*t out of ray price the whole game.
He tore his headgear off multiple times among other things.
Interestingly he was rushed into the NSW team after just two first grade games.

 

[Sue]

Can’t believe the lack of love for Nik Kosef.Played at 5/8 in 96 but under these rules should be on the bench surely. Pure footballer with all the skills and played a lot more rep football than most of the other candidates thrown up for the bench.He was a class above Gibbs, Gartner etc.97 to 99 was NSW and Australian lock and would have stayed there long term if not for his knees.

The exact opposite to the robots playing today. Footballers are a dying breed.

 

[StuBoot]

Can’t believe the lack of love for Nik Kosef.Played at 5/8 in 96 but under these rules should be on the bench surely. Pure footballer with all the skills and played a lot more rep football than most of the other candidates thrown up for the bench.He was a class above Gibbs, Gartner etc.97 to 99 was NSW and Australian lock and would have stayed there long term if not for his knees.

The exact opposite to the robots playing today. Footballers are a dying breed.

Agree but just couldn’t find a spot for him over Beaver, Choc, Martin or Gifty!

 

[manly al]

Ima was and is still held in the highest regard by everybody that ever saw him play .... he played in 6 grandfinals winning 4 ....

He was the reason Fulton the immortal was kept out of his favoured 5/8 position at Manly and instead played in the centres ......when Fulton went up to the Australian team he reverted back (generally) to 5/8 ...

Ima is a legend ...

Would tend to disagree that the reason for Bozo Fulton reverting to centre in the early seventies was mainly to accommodate Ian Martin as a 5 / 8 . Thought it was more a case of the only recognized centres of note available at that time were Fulton and Ray Branighan for Manly . On a similar relevant point , as soon as Alan Thompson emerged for i st grade consideration as a 5 / 8 a bit latter , Ian Martin then reverted to lock . Taking nothing away from Ian Martin ".s tough and very effective contribution during his very successful career with Manly and premiership honours . By the same token , Alan Thompson should also be in contention as a worthy contender to feature in any of Manly "s past premiership glory's and outcomes

 

[manly al]

Can’t believe the lack of love for Nik Kosef.Played at 5/8 in 96 but under these rules should be on the bench surely. Pure footballer with all the skills and played a lot more rep football than most of the other candidates thrown up for the bench.He was a class above Gibbs, Gartner etc.97 to 99 was NSW and Australian lock and would have stayed there long term if not for his knees.

The exact opposite to the robots playing today. Footballers are a dying breed.

Certainly agree that Nick Kosef was a great and highly skillful performer at club level for Manly and in rep sides . Also showed commendable tenacity to make those repeated comebacks from his knee injury issues. Even during and after his injury concerns , had that uncanny ability to break the opposition"s line . Think that he played most of his rep footy in the 2 nd row though and also certainly remember his additional classy . role playing at 5 / 8 in 96 in the final "s series . Also recall with money getting a bit tight at Manly in 97 or 98 or so that Balmain made a big offer to Kosef and Manly at one stage were faced with the unenviable position of maybe having to choose between Kosef and Tooves to retain . Fortunately both were still able to be retained [ Tooves may even have taken unders to stay and maybe even Nick ] Anyway , for sure Kosef was right up there with the very impressive array of top premiership performers for Manly . Also taking into account the salary cap provision for the 2008 and 2011 sides , how commendable were those side"s efforts and outcomes .

 

[Woodsie]

Would tend to disagree that the reason for Bozo Fulton reverting to centre in the early seventies was mainly to accommodate Ian Martin as a 5 / 8 . Thought it was more a case of the only recognized centres of note available at that time were Fulton and Ray Branighan for Manly . On a similar relevant point , as soon as Alan Thompson emerged for i st grade consideration as a 5 / 8 a bit latter , Ian Martin then reverted to lock . Taking nothing away from Ian Martin ".s tough and very effective contribution during his very successful career with Manly and premiership honours . By the same token , Alan Thompson should also be in contention as a worthy contender to feature in any of Manly "s past premiership glory's and outcomes

Subjective selections will always have different interpretations but I can tell you that nobody was going to move Ima from 5/8 until as you say he got a bit longer in the tooth and could no longer keep young Thompson at bay ..... but he was still such an important cog that the lock spot was opened for him ...

As far as suitable centres to play in Firsts .... remember in '77 or '78 ( my memory is getting hazy, @HoldenV8 will probably remember and tell us what the weather was like) Frogs eyes was selected to play for Australia against the Lions in Brisbane, out of Manly's reggies, only to go back to reggies the next week ... all so Ima could play 5/8 ....

 

[Harvies elbow]

Nick Kosef was one of our best but unfortunately many of the forwards selected are 2 time premiership winner or more.
That came into my selection calculations anyway.

 

[manly al]

Subjective selections will always have different interpretations but I can tell you that nobody was going to move Ima from 5/8 until as you say he got a bit longer in the tooth and could no longer keep young Thompson at bay ..... but he was still such an important cog that the lock spot was opened for him ...

As far as suitable centres to play in Firsts .... remember in '77 or '78 ( my memory is getting hazy, @HoldenV8 will probably remember and tell us what the weather was like) Frogs eyes was selected to play for Australia against the Lions in Brisbane, out of Manly's reggies, only to go back to reggies the next week ... all so Ima could play 5/8 ....

You of course were much closer to the club scene but i thought that Alan Thompson was the regular club 5 / 8 from about 76 or so . Thought that Frogs eyes and Simon Booth or Robbie Parker were the main centres in 77 after Fulton left for the Roosters [ Paul Cootes might have been around the joint too ] , then also Steve Knight bought in by Arko in 78 and Branighan was still with Manly until 78 [ including 76 and 77 ] also from memory but he had frequent injury concerns during this time also i think .

 

[Woodsie]

You of course were much closer to the club scene but i thought that Alan Thompson was the regular club 5 / 8 from about 76 or so . Thought that Frogs eyes and Simon Booth or Robbie Parker were the main centres in 77 after Fulton left for the Roosters [ Paul Cootes might have been around the joint too ] , then also Steve Knight bought in by Arko in 78 and Branighan was still with Manly until 78 [ including 76 and 77 ] also from memory but he had frequent injury concerns during this time also i think .

@HoldenV8 will set us straight .... remember that Ima debuted back in about '68 from memory .... by '77 his legs had seen a few miles ..

 

[Pittwater Legend]

The hardest part was who to leave out. I mean, some of those names I did leave out are legends not only at Manly but in the game of rugby league. Brett Stewart, Michael O'Connor, Ian Martin, Bill Hamilton, Anthony Watmough, Paul Vautin, Noel Cleal, David Gillespie, Russel Gartner, Daniel Gartner, Terry Hill, Matthew Ridge, Daly Cherry-Evans. The list goes on and on.

The hardest to leave out for me was Snake. He and Wombat are easily (so far) the best fullbacks we've ever had. Our top point scorer and top try scorer (well, officially. I still count Beavers 180 tries as our best even if the NRL refuses to). And both were very different style of players with what they brought to the teams they played in. Wombat was a power fullback while Snake had freakish skills and pace to burn.

For the record, I did go for Rowdy over Snake as the back on the bench only because Snake was really a specialist fullback. Rowdy could play anywhere in the backline other than halfback. He even played a few games at 5/8 for Qld showing just how good he really was. Not saying Snake couldn't have played anywhere in the backline, because his skills and speed suggest he would have been great wherever his position was. But other than the game against Canberra at Brookie where he played half the game on the wing (scoring his 100th try in the process), we only ever saw him at fullback for Manly.

But any of the 88 players who have won a first grade premiership at Manly would be worthy of a place in a best ever Manly GF winning team.

For me Snake was too good to move from fullback. No arguments with picking Wombat over him though. Eadie is in a very small and elite club of players who have won 4 premierships for Manly. In my eyes Snake should have been a 3 time winner (that damn 13 grand final) and it would have been great to see what could have unfolded if he didn't have to endure the court case and 2 season ending injuries early in the 09 and 10 seasons.

 

[HoldenV8]

Subjective selections will always have different interpretations but I can tell you that nobody was going to move Ima from 5/8 until as you say he got a bit longer in the tooth and could no longer keep young Thompson at bay ..... but he was still such an important cog that the lock spot was opened for him ...

As far as suitable centres to play in Firsts .... remember in '77 or '78 ( my memory is getting hazy, @HoldenV8 will probably remember and tell us what the weather was like) Frogs eyes was selected to play for Australia against the Lions in Brisbane, out of Manly's reggies, only to go back to reggies the next week ... all so Ima could play 5/8 ....

Gartner only played 2 internationals in his career, both in the 1977 World Cup. His first was from the bench against France at the SCG on 11 June (the Kangaroos centres and wingers that day were Allan McMahon and Terry Fahey on the flanks and Mick Cronin with Brisbane Easts player Mark Thomas in the centres). His second and last test was the 1977 World Cup Final against Great Britain at the SCG where he was in the centres with Cronin. Garts scored a runaway 60m try in the first half of the Final after Scottish fullback George Fairbairn dropped the ball off a Lions scrum win. That game was on 25 June 1977. The only other Manly players in that WCF were Wombat at fullback and Igor in the second row.

I still think its a travesty that Russel Gartner wasn't a 1978 Kangaroo tourist. And personally I think it had a lot more to do with the fact that there were already 7 Manly players in the squad (plus Stanton and Bozo) than because he wasn't good enough. The only other actual centres (and not backline utilities like McMahon) in that squad were Mick Cronin and Steve Rogers as well as Bozo who played mainly at 5/8 anyway.

Ian Martin (IMO) was a very underrated player. And you've got to be good to be able to keep Bob Fulton in the centres.

 

[HoldenV8]

For me Snake was too good to move from fullback. No arguments with picking Wombat over him though. Eadie is in a very small and elite club of players who have won 4 premierships for Manly. In my eyes Snake should have been a 3 time winner (that damn 13 grand final) and it would have been great to see what could have unfolded if he didn't have to endure the court case and 2 season ending injuries early in the 09 and 10 seasons.

I think Snake could have given Ken Irvine's 212 try total a big shake. He scored 163 at the end of his career and basically missed 2-3 seasons due to injury. He certainly would have scored more than Slater.

 

[Pittwater Legend]

I think Snake could have given Ken Irvine's 212 try total a big shake. He scored 163 at the end of his career and basically missed 2-3 seasons due to injury. He certainly would have scored more than Slater.

03, 09, 10 and niggling injuries in later seasons. Brett Stewart was so incredible and vital to our team that it felt like he played way more than the 233 games that he has to his name. He would have smashed 200 tries had he been a 300 game player.

 

[Harvies elbow]

You of course were much closer to the club scene but i thought that Alan Thompson was the regular club 5 / 8 from about 76 or so . Thought that Frogs eyes and Simon Booth or Robbie Parker were the main centres in 77 after Fulton left for the Roosters [ Paul Cootes might have been around the joint too ] , then also Steve Knight bought in by Arko in 78 and Branighan was still with Manly until 78 [ including 76 and 77 ] also from memory but he had frequent injury concerns during this time also i think .

Peter Cootes was the bloke I think but didn't play 1st grade I don't think.
Ray Branhigan got a run as reserve in the 78 GF replay.

 

[manly al]

Peter Cootes was the bloke I think but didn't play 1st grade I don't think.
Ray Branhigan got a run as reserve in the 78 GF replay.

That"s right Peter Cootes and not Paul . Really good speed as a winger but yeah . do not recall him playing any i st grade for Manly . Was related to Father John Cootes that centre from Newcastle[ used to have some singing talent also from memory ] who never played in the Sydney ist grade scene but represented N S W and maybe even Australia [ still playing from Newcastle ] Anyway certainly not trying to inadvertently introduce another general religious tangent , just some low key trivia references from the past .

 

[Harvies elbow]

That"s right Peter Cootes and not Paul . Really good speed as a winger but yeah . do not recall him playing any i st grade for Manly . Was related to Father John Cootes that centre from Newcastle[ used to have some singing talent also from memory ] who never played in the Sydney ist grade scene but represented N S W and maybe even Australia [ still playing from Newcastle ] Anyway certainly not trying to inadvertently introduce another general religious tangent , just some low key trivia references from the past .

You've got a good memory Al.
I had completely forgot about the good fathers singing prowess.
He used to sing on the Mike Walsh show or something from time to time, I dunno exactly but it was some TV show.
Mum and nanna thought he was alright, I didn't think much of his singing as a kid.
I think Peter had some 'defensive deficiencies'...