Berkeley_Eagle
Current Status: 24/7 Manly Fan
Obstruction decision in 2011 NRL grand final means Manly conspiracy theories continue
Paul Kent The Daily Telegraph October 03, 2011 12:00AM
IT wouldn't be a Manly finals moment without a conspiracy theory.
A seven-tackle try on the way to one premiership (Greg Hartley, 1978), the tackle that wasn't a tackle (Matthew Ridge, 1996) that broke open another and, yesterday, the obstruction that wasn't an obstruction, and the try that came off the back of it.
Did Daly Cherry-Evans obstruct Aaron Heremaia on the way to his try a play later, when he collided with Michael Robertson?
They will debate it until Zorba wins Miss World but what is certain is that whatever chance the Warriors had of pulling back Manly took a fatal blow six seconds from halftime when the Sea Eagles went ahead 12-2.
New Zealand weren't playing well enough to overcome it. Manly were playing too well to surrender it.
All that is certain is that the controversy, in the Ray Warren sense, will be another chapter in the Manly Book of Controversies, which is about as thick as a house brick by now.And while some old demons were awoken last night, others were added to. The Stewart brothers were dangerous and brilliant and, it appears, will use this to finally exorcise the demons that restricted their enjoyment since their last premiership in 2008.
At least that's how the PR went.
And Des Hasler suggested as much when Stewart rushed to embrace him.
"He has had a tough couple of years, so it's fantastic," Hasler said. "I think he has finally got closure."
Most famously, Stewart fell out with the NRL hierarchy after he was stood down four weeks and canned from the game's advertising campaign after the club's season launch.
The wound still bleeds. It appears the Stewart brothers' words to Gallop on the dais were less conciliatory than Manly had us believe.
It makes it hard to like Manly.
Hate is a funny word in sport. It almost always means everything but hate in the proper sense.
That's why we can say we hate Manly because, in truth, what is at the heart of it but a nod to their superiority, and their regularity at it?
To hate Manly doesn't mean you hate Jamie Lyon or Daly Cherry-Evans or Kieran Foran. Or even the Stewart brothers. That is the argument the small-minded cling to.
But as a club, they could whinge for Australia. There's something to dislike about that.
Was it an obstruction? The history books now say no, and who can argue with that? Boo the decision? You'd be disappointed if they didn't. It's not like Manly could give a hoot - they have the trophy.
They were the better side for 65 minutes, the Warriors only getting close when the Sea Eagles tired and the Kiwis began throwing speculators from all points of the compass.
By then Manly had ground them away. They went to work in the first minutes and earned it.
While New Zealand had the better of field position for the opening 20 minutes, the real game was being seen in glimpses.
In the 10th minute, Brett Stewart ran a block play down Manly's left edge and so easily, too easily, found himself in space.
The Warriors read the play poorly and Stewart stabbed through, only to knock on as he tried to find Michael Robertson slipping inside. Right there the Warriors saw their future.
Two minutes later the Sea Eagles attacked the right edge and nearly busted the Warriors open again.
This time the Jamie Lyon pass to an open Will Hopoate was called forward. Then four minutes later the Sea Eagles again attacked down their right edge, only to see Shaun Johnson stick out a paw to spoil the play, if not pull in the intercept.
But each raid should have come with a warning bell.
Despite their superior field position, New Zealand's edge defence - the great concern before the game - was taking on water.
The greater damage was being done on the fringes, and that is where Manly took the game away.
The night was one for demons. Glenn Stewart called it "the final chapter, and everything is back to where it was. Moving on".
When Brett took his premiership ring, many waited to see how he, also, would address Gallop, if indeed at all.
They exchanged words, but rather than a moving on, it appeared more of the same.
The NRL's only official statement was that Gallop would not be going into the Manly sheds
Paul Kent The Daily Telegraph October 03, 2011 12:00AM
IT wouldn't be a Manly finals moment without a conspiracy theory.
A seven-tackle try on the way to one premiership (Greg Hartley, 1978), the tackle that wasn't a tackle (Matthew Ridge, 1996) that broke open another and, yesterday, the obstruction that wasn't an obstruction, and the try that came off the back of it.
Did Daly Cherry-Evans obstruct Aaron Heremaia on the way to his try a play later, when he collided with Michael Robertson?
They will debate it until Zorba wins Miss World but what is certain is that whatever chance the Warriors had of pulling back Manly took a fatal blow six seconds from halftime when the Sea Eagles went ahead 12-2.
New Zealand weren't playing well enough to overcome it. Manly were playing too well to surrender it.
All that is certain is that the controversy, in the Ray Warren sense, will be another chapter in the Manly Book of Controversies, which is about as thick as a house brick by now.And while some old demons were awoken last night, others were added to. The Stewart brothers were dangerous and brilliant and, it appears, will use this to finally exorcise the demons that restricted their enjoyment since their last premiership in 2008.
At least that's how the PR went.
And Des Hasler suggested as much when Stewart rushed to embrace him.
"He has had a tough couple of years, so it's fantastic," Hasler said. "I think he has finally got closure."
Most famously, Stewart fell out with the NRL hierarchy after he was stood down four weeks and canned from the game's advertising campaign after the club's season launch.
The wound still bleeds. It appears the Stewart brothers' words to Gallop on the dais were less conciliatory than Manly had us believe.
It makes it hard to like Manly.
Hate is a funny word in sport. It almost always means everything but hate in the proper sense.
That's why we can say we hate Manly because, in truth, what is at the heart of it but a nod to their superiority, and their regularity at it?
To hate Manly doesn't mean you hate Jamie Lyon or Daly Cherry-Evans or Kieran Foran. Or even the Stewart brothers. That is the argument the small-minded cling to.
But as a club, they could whinge for Australia. There's something to dislike about that.
Was it an obstruction? The history books now say no, and who can argue with that? Boo the decision? You'd be disappointed if they didn't. It's not like Manly could give a hoot - they have the trophy.
They were the better side for 65 minutes, the Warriors only getting close when the Sea Eagles tired and the Kiwis began throwing speculators from all points of the compass.
By then Manly had ground them away. They went to work in the first minutes and earned it.
While New Zealand had the better of field position for the opening 20 minutes, the real game was being seen in glimpses.
In the 10th minute, Brett Stewart ran a block play down Manly's left edge and so easily, too easily, found himself in space.
The Warriors read the play poorly and Stewart stabbed through, only to knock on as he tried to find Michael Robertson slipping inside. Right there the Warriors saw their future.
Two minutes later the Sea Eagles attacked the right edge and nearly busted the Warriors open again.
This time the Jamie Lyon pass to an open Will Hopoate was called forward. Then four minutes later the Sea Eagles again attacked down their right edge, only to see Shaun Johnson stick out a paw to spoil the play, if not pull in the intercept.
But each raid should have come with a warning bell.
Despite their superior field position, New Zealand's edge defence - the great concern before the game - was taking on water.
The greater damage was being done on the fringes, and that is where Manly took the game away.
The night was one for demons. Glenn Stewart called it "the final chapter, and everything is back to where it was. Moving on".
When Brett took his premiership ring, many waited to see how he, also, would address Gallop, if indeed at all.
They exchanged words, but rather than a moving on, it appeared more of the same.
The NRL's only official statement was that Gallop would not be going into the Manly sheds
