Manly has revealed how war stories from the First Battle of Brookvale and watching re-runs of the famous brawl helped inspire her strike at Melbourne.
The Sea Eagles’ 18-8 win over The Storm on Friday night was easily their best season so far, on a night when tempers often flared and three players were penalized for late goals.
The match was immediately compared to the 2011 clash between the two rivals, which is considered one of the most spiteful in modern NRL, as the fighting spilled over the sidelines.
Daly Cherry-Evans is the only remaining player from both teams that night, while Brad Parker and Aaron Woods both watched as young Manly fans on the mound.
The Sea Eagles invited Jamie Buhrer to speak to them about the game and the rivalry in Melbourne this week, while Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart were among those invited to the sheds afterwards.
“We built it to be like this game,” Parker told AAP.
“The rivalry is not as strong as it was then. But from the first goal we tricked them.
“We’ve had a few chats with old players this week talking about this rivalry and it really motivated us to perform well.
“We watched the video during the week and it was so unreal to watch guys like Chez (Cherry-Evans) and Foz (Kieran Foran) get into it.
“Jamie Buhrer walked in and after that guys like Gifty (Stewart) and Watmough came in the shed and had a beer with them.
“They loved it. It was really good to put on a performance not only for the fans but also for the old boys.”
Manly’s win was built on the same physicality that made the club famous in its golden era and was a far cry from the side who conceded 76 points combined against Newcastle and Penrith in the previous two weeks.
In a first-half set, they brought down Melbourne players with consecutive big goals when Haumole Olakau’atu in particular flattened Justin Olam.
The story goes on
Another notable shot landed by Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega on William Warbrick in one of the most physical matches of the first seven rounds.
Cherry-Evans said they used the emotions of the rivalry and history between the two teams to try to reverse their defense after the fortnight of horror.
“We had three pretty tough weeks where we didn’t get a result and we had to trigger something,” he said.
“We tapped into it.
“We know exactly where this rivalry comes from.
“Our best response to that is to show respect to the opponent and play well and hard, and we did that.”
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