ManlyBacker
Winging it
It is battle stations for the weekend in a clash of two ex Super League teams. Yes, some of us still have scars of the effects of the Murdoch greed and ‘vision’ and the destruction it created on our great club.
I don’t think I will ever forgive the Broncos. Whinging from the first day, when they were handed every concession in joining the national RL comp, they went on to be the driving force in almost destroying the game. So in this GF I will go for the Storm, only as they are the less of two evils.
One player from the Broncos who can hold his head high and has played with dignity for 11 years is Shane Webcke. This is one player I will miss as he is my type of book-end. Tough, uncompromising and passionate in giving his all he will have played 254 games for them, 21 State of Origins and represented Australia on 20 occasions.
There is just something I love about the hardmen of league. Usually dismissed as unexciting as the halves and backs, they really are the ones who graft the ground that enables a win. When I was young I wanted to be Bill Hamilton (played for Manly in the sixties) or a Bob McCarthy, the ones who carried four players on their backs as they marched towards the try line and planted the ball down. Shane Webcke is definitely one of those players.
If you think the NRL is hard, SOO fast, nothing is as brutal as a Test match. Facing the Poms and Kiwis, putting up with cheap shots and getting up to take more is really the mark of great determination. Shane did that and, no matter what, he made the grade in my mind by a huge margin.
If the Broncos win I won’t be happy, but at least I know that a warrior got a slice of what he truly deserves.
I don’t think I will ever forgive the Broncos. Whinging from the first day, when they were handed every concession in joining the national RL comp, they went on to be the driving force in almost destroying the game. So in this GF I will go for the Storm, only as they are the less of two evils.
One player from the Broncos who can hold his head high and has played with dignity for 11 years is Shane Webcke. This is one player I will miss as he is my type of book-end. Tough, uncompromising and passionate in giving his all he will have played 254 games for them, 21 State of Origins and represented Australia on 20 occasions.
There is just something I love about the hardmen of league. Usually dismissed as unexciting as the halves and backs, they really are the ones who graft the ground that enables a win. When I was young I wanted to be Bill Hamilton (played for Manly in the sixties) or a Bob McCarthy, the ones who carried four players on their backs as they marched towards the try line and planted the ball down. Shane Webcke is definitely one of those players.
If you think the NRL is hard, SOO fast, nothing is as brutal as a Test match. Facing the Poms and Kiwis, putting up with cheap shots and getting up to take more is really the mark of great determination. Shane did that and, no matter what, he made the grade in my mind by a huge margin.
If the Broncos win I won’t be happy, but at least I know that a warrior got a slice of what he truly deserves.
