Melbourne Storm v Manly Sea Eagles NRL match in Melbourne (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Brett Crockford)
Melbourne Storm assistant coach Kevin Walters said: “Everyone likes playing Manly and everyone likes playing against the Storm.” No, they don’t.
Melbourne is purple and blue – the colour of bruises. Manly, a crimson maroon, is the colour of dried blood.
There’s a reason these two have been a force over the past five years. They’ll die before they let you over the try line. And the damage done in attempting to do so (your face will soon be the colour of their jerseys) will make you increasingly vulnerable to a bashing on the scoreboard too.
They bear the nicknames of Silvertails and Mexicans conferred on them by rugby league’s western heartland but those contemptuous monikers don’t reflect reality.
Manly, with its bewitching blend of skill, speed, power and near-thuggery, certainly doesn’t play like it has a silver spoon in its mouth. Captain Jamie Lyon looks like a street urchin and it’s hard to imagine George Rose in a Manly cafe with an almond croissant in his gob.
Silvertail was not a description my sister-in-law, a Storm supporter, would have used on Friday night as chants of “forty-zero, forty-zero!” rang in her ears, and beer and saliva from Sea Eagles fans slapped against her face. “Gee it’s really intense here,” she texted with gracious understatement.
The Storm, loathed for its rorting, grappling, and over-succeeding, has the competition’s best defence and is the antithesis of the lazy bum suggested by the improper label of Mexican.
No team really wants to play either of them. But they clearly enjoy playing each other.
Commentators often refer to “healthy rivalries”. On Friday, with Billy Slater and Gareth Widdop cradling a distraught David Williams, an ignorant person would have thought that was what they were seeing. Minutes later, however, Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair were sin-binned for engaging in a melee. Thinking that a send-off and possible season-ending suspension were more appropriate for the grand occasion they proceeded to belt each other up in front of the cameras.
Despite the lopsided result, the intensity of the game – and what a game it was – justified its billing as the contest of the year. If it hadn’t been for the setting (described fondly by Phil Gould as “an old tribal crowd in a suburban ground”) you could have been fooled into thinking it was the season finale.
During their two most famous battles, the grand final maulings of 2007 and 2008, they both found premiership redemption. Those matches were some time ago but have not been forgotten. Such is the brutal nature of their games, you sense that each time they come together they’re looking to be redeemed once again.
The Manly supporters definitely despise Melbourne as evidenced by the constant reminders of their record 2008 victory. It isn’t just that they managed to keep the Storm scoreless. I think the previous loss hurt them deeply. When Storm triumphed in 2007, in its mind it was Brisbane, its controversial vanquisher of the previous year, rather than Manly, it was defeating. That has changed now.
The most renowned coaching rivalry is the one between Wayne Bennett and his imperious former water boy Craig Bellamy, however the battle between Bellamy and Des Hasler is the most intriguing.
Beginning only a year apart their record for reaching the finals is almost impeccable, with both failing just once. With my calculations Hasler now has a 9-7 head-to-head advantage over his Storm counterpart which puts the grand master Bennett, with a 13 game deficit to Bellamy, well and truly in the shade.
What can be taken out of Friday night’s game? Manly was impressive, in all facets. It’s young halves run and distribute the ball beautifully to their big, quick and rampaging outside backs. After that performance it deserves to be title favourite.
Whether it was the Sea Eagles’ vicious assault, the absence of Cooper Cronk, or a weariness brought on by trying to win too often, the Storm didn’t look right. When it had the ball Brookvale appeared to shrink, compressing any openings.
By winning, it is assumed Manly now has “bragging rights” and a “psychological edge” but it won’t be claiming anything. Firstly, teams don’t brag anymore and, secondly, in most of the grand final previews of the past decade the result has been reversed in the decider.
Also, it is hard to judge the credentials of either team when they play in a biased cauldron like Brookvale, which is perhaps why TAB Sportsbet still has Storm as premiership favourite.
There are several resurgent teams who look capable of winning this year’s premiership. Were they scared by what they saw on Friday night, or enlivened by seeing the two heavyweights smash each other to physical and mental exhaustion?
A team that won’t be showing any fear is the one of Wayne Bennett. Its colour is the red of a gaping wound.
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