Northern Eagles - A retrospective look at how it could have worked

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
St Merge has worked the best. Admittedly St george fans got the better deal (but they were a successful foundation club, so it was always going to happen).

One was White and Red, the other red and white, and were located reasonably close to each other.

The fact they suck now is not a merger issues. They have fundamental issues, like Mcrone at half, and Mary as coach.
Sorry to be pedantic but Dragons are not a foundation club, they only joined the comp in 1921.
 
As the Bears seem to gain steam and be the vultures just outside the league i think we should go to the past to see how easily this could've been done better

Naming

Northern Eagles,Northern where? Northern Territory? What a stupid name to start with,i would have went with North Sydney Eagles,keeping the Bears faction happy that part of their name lives on,the pheonix sounds stupid on every level and was rightfully not even really looked into and North Sydney Sea Eagles is a mouthful,just like MWSE but thats a nitpick for another time

Home Grounds

NSO 4 games
BO 4 games
BTS 4 games - Saturday night-twilight only

The Sydney games are more or less easy to get to,other than the stupid 6pm friday game,I'd be looking at BO/NSO sharing the friday and sunday games,Bluetongue Stadium gets the saturday games because it's a venture for our fans to drive there and gives us the option of staying overnight or being normal and coming home after the game and still sleeping in on sunday

Uniform

MAROON AND ****ING BLACK,alternately we could use the Bears red and black for NSO games/North Sydney rivalry games like Souths,or Bears away Eagles Home,either way the way they went about it was an absolute cluster****,2 shades of red with white and black,what the actual **** thats basically sabotage,also i would have loved a tasteful bear,even faded somewhere on every outfit we wore,even superimposed under the eagle logo,as a sign of respect and mourning,also with the Maroon and Black remember our badass daredevil outfit? Imagine going to the pub/game with that on every week without the marvel ****tery,we could have even alternated every 3 years with the home jersey going from the hoops to the butcher stripes and back again

Ultimately i would have went with Maroon and black and probably the bears away outfit to do the bears side a kindness,because black and maroon wouldn't have been a good alternate

Co-Captaincy - Co-Coaching

This is a no brainer,Toovey and the current bears Captains would have either alternated as captain or been off and on field captains respectively,Toovey being on field,look at the blokes heart,2 coaches could have been better than one,infact given our run as the NSE i guarantee a second coach would have been just what the doctor ordered

Board split - The only part of this merger that would have been pro manly would be in the boardroom,with a 4-3 split,because it's our ****ing license thats why,we are saving you from utter extinction/hibernation,get over yourselves

I think with this plan we could have had a worthwhile and fruitful merger that could be the strongest to this day,but no both sides ****ed it up with pigheadedness and too much factionalism to ever work

Agree with everything you say except it should have been called the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, wearing maroon and white with all games at Brookie, no Norths players in the team and no Norths reps on the board.

I would have been happy to sacrifice Peter Sharp for a new independent coach. Maybe Wayne Bennett. You have to give something after all.

Then it might've worked.
 
Last edited:
St Merge has worked the best. Admittedly St george fans got the better deal (but they were a successful foundation club, so it was always going to happen).

One was White and Red, the other red and white, and were located reasonably close to each other.

The fact they suck now is not a merger issues. They have fundamental issues, like Mcrone at half, and Mary as coach.
Ask a Steelers fan what they think. It wasn't a merger, it was a takeover.

The thing that really sh!ts me about St Merge is how the NRL and their media lackeys perpetuate the myth of the Red V and their records. St George died when the club merged and their records were consigned to history. St Merge have only been around since 1999 and have only won one premiership. There is no more "proud tradition" and there is no "amazing history".
 
Last edited:
I still went for them, but the arrangement was atrocious. The jersey was an abomination, too. These days we would have had better jerseys, some would have been bear based some with maroon and white. It could've worked, but with an intransigent and insolvent bears club, plus a rotten local council at Gosford hating the team it had to all end in tears. But with good will, it may have worked. So thankful we came back out of it better than any of us could've hoped.
 
We are now in a period exactly as the merger should have been.

Manly-Warringah Sea eagles... perhaps with out leagues club at north Sydney to placate those who know not how to win
 
Ask a Steelers fan what they think. It wasn't a merger, it was a takeover.

The thing that really sh!ts me about St Merge is how the NRL and their media lackeys perpetuate the myth of the Red V and their records. St George died when the club merged and their records were consigned to history. St Merge have only been around since 1999 and have only won one premiership. Their is no more "proud tradition" and their is no "amazing history".

Very good point, considering how much the NRL insisted Beavers record as playing 349(?) games was not for the one club
 
Valuable post, so much insight on the subject matter

Maybe first think if you could add to a discussion before randomly talking

I did think about it. After reading your first few paragraphs I thought to myself that this is a bizarre topic to raise at this stage of an enjoyable Manly season.

Barring any further response I won't be returning to it. A number of people seem happy to discuss it so there you go!
I would say though, that rating your own thread as valuable is interesting........,
 
It could have worked.

Maroon and black. Some white e.g. Trim or shorts

Only playing at Brookie and north Sydney. No central coast presence, just concentrating on the Sydney north side.

Celebrating the history of both clubs using the amicable foundation of manly as a starting point. Manly needed norths to agree to us splitting off. The merger would have been a reunification.

At north Sydney oval games having a big welcome party for manly fans pre game, and vice versa at brookie
 
A reflection of a Manly supporter not from the Northern Beaches (a bit wordy, sorry)......

When the Northern Eagles merger first happened I turned to a Norths supporter mate because I thought they would jump at the chance to be joined to our successful club, and I might catch some of the enthusiasm.
What I learnt is what the NRL possibly hasn't. True tribalism.

Norths hadn't won a comp since 1922. I'm guessing that meant most supporters were generational or territorial and the longer the drought seemingly the stronger the loyalty of those that stuck (prouder through sacrifice). My mate had been both.

Manly comes along in '47, grows stronger, is well run, and increasingly successful. I saw the local derby rivalry. We brought over players from them like Ken Irvine, Bruce Walker and John Gray.

Quickly understood why a North's supporter would be even less of a fan than us of the joint venture, in spite of their club's lack of success. The "essence" of their club pretty much evaporated.

Basically putting two historically competitive teams (whose rivalry had always been encouraged) together and expecting the fans to roll into it all happy is like mixing custard with gravy and expecting every custard or gravy lover in the room to love the new taste.:sick:

If the Northern Eagles had survived long enough though, a new breed of young local supporter may well have grown up accepting them, adding to the base, similar to children of other club supporters who have grown up supporting the Knights in Newcastle. But then that might depend on whether games are still played locally, or removed to city stadiums, another NRL grand strategy.

As a Manly fan I'm happy with how it turned out, but as a fan of rugby league I'm disappointed to see passionate supporters pushed away. And a fan who loyally supports a team who hasn't won a comp in their lifetime has to have something going for them I reckon. Rugby league lost my mate.

But of course if they ever come back as a first grade side any semblance of sympathy abruptly ends.:)
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom